Well ...

Well, clearly I didn’t take the laptop so I could blog and comment on blogs, and I didn’t use my phone except for pictures, boarding passes for flights, car and hotel reservations  and directions to restaurants, so I really was unplugged and I really loved it. And that made the trip all the more peaceful and relaxed, even with plane delays both going and coming home; peaceful.

And that was the trip. We had a nice visit with my Dad … Carlos hadn’t been out since the pandemic ended … and we enjoyed our first real vacation together in a couple of years … other than weekends away and such.

We strolled the old town of Newport; it’s quite touristy but I love the views of the old bridge, even from underneath. Strolling through town I saw these two figures outside of Ripley's Believe It or Not! … or as I called it, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not They Still Exist. But I did like the lion and the gorilla outside the building seemingly crafted out of tires.

And of course you have to see, and hear, the sea lions in the bay. During a particularly bad storm their little sunbathing spot had been damaged and the town fixed them up a new perch almost instantly. They may be loud, but the people want what the people want.

Even better, though, was a glass of Dead Guy Pilsner and a bowl of Clam Chowder at the Rogue Brewery overlooking the marina. We always stop in there for a beer or three and a good lunch.

We took morning and afternoon walks along the beaches up and down the coast; the water’s a wee bit cold, but the days were mostly sunny and cool, and the sea is good what ails you. In that last photo is a teeny tiny view of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse …

And there’s the lighthouse up close; still in operation though unmanned these days, it’s sits in a spot called Cape Foulweather … doesn’t that sound lovely. The coastline is especially rugged—for people—but the birds seem to love perching on the rocks; along one side of the Lighthouse you can hike down to the beach for a totally different view.

And we’ll take a moment for the I Don’t Like People segment of the tour. The lighthouse has designated paths and trails, all fenced in to keep humans from trampling on the native vegetation. 

But please to explain these fools standing off the path to take pictures, having walked over this sign to do so? Seriously, I don’t like many people.

Another scenic peaceful sight was the walks along the Willamette River, where we had a couple of drinks, a nosh of two, and then relaxed in a beautiful garden of native plants and flowers at the water’s edge. The geese were out that day, heads turning in unison if they thought someone might have some breadcrumbs. 

I love this message on a lamp post … ‘You have five days,’ it said, though someone edited it to say, ‘You haven’t five days.’ As it turned out we hadn’t five days left, but just one last night and another dreamy cock-a-tale at Twigs Bistro in Vancouver: I give you the Lunazul Reposado Jalapeno Cilantro Margatini.

What a way to end a trip … hic.

So, we’re back, and getting back to the home routines of animals and lawns and life. All in all, it was a beautiful peaceful fun trip, and so glad we got a way.

It’s With Great Sadness That I Say Goodbye ….

… to The Stud, San Francisco’s oldest continuously operating queer nightclub.

Yes, The Stud, is permanently closing its current location at Ninth and Harrison streets in SoMa amid the COVID-19 crisis:

“The Stud is the country’s only cooperatively owned LGBT venue and has been in operation for 55 years [but] because of a lack of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the historic bar will be announcing that they are permanently closing their location and will be holding a drag funeral to honor the end of an era of LGBT nightlife.”

Damn you, COVID-19!

I have many fond memories of The Stud from living out West. Dancing at The Stud; drinking way too much at The Stud; finding love for the night at The Stud. Every time I’d have a visitor, off we’d go, because it was raucous and bawdy and fun and friendly and queer and safe.

My favorite story is the time a large group of us went wine tasting in Napa and then went back into The City looking for fun; our first stop was the Paradise Lounge in SoMa; a former YMCA, the dance floor was a plexiglass slab over the empty swimming pool, and bars were set up in the locker rooms. Paradise wasn’t exclusively gay, but it was a fun place to start the night. As we entered the building, my friend Robby, straight as could be, asked if it was a gay club and I said ‘No.’ It wasn’t; it was an everybody club, so in we went. After a while we wanted to switch things up and The Stud wasn’t too far, so off we went. Robby said:

“The Stud? That’s a gay place.”

“No. That’s just the name.”

But it was deliciously gay and as we entered the building, Robby leading the way, the first thing he saw were two guys in briefs dancing on the bar. He shot me a panicked look and I assured him he’d be fine.

“But what do I do if a guy hits on me and wants to dance or buy me a drink?”

“Take the drink, and if you wanna dance, dance, if you don’t then don’t.

We practically had to pry Robby outta that place later on because he was having so much fun, being straight in a gay bar.

Who. Knew.

And now, it’s going away?

Perhaps not. After initial reports claimed The Stud would be closing for good, co-owner Marke Bieschke said they have plans to look for a new location:

“We’re still going to come back when this is over—a different space with the same lovingly outrageous vibe. … And after this is all over, a new permanent location, to help rebuild the city’s shattered nightlife scene—and continue the Stud’s rough-and-tumble legacy the only way we know how: with shots up and heels high.”

Just like I remember it.

Straight Couple Accidentally Booked On Pride Flight

Kerry and Sean Powell booked a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York in September 2018. They were hoping for just a routine flight, but then the airline called to inform them that it had been changed into a Pride flight and would feature drag queens and other entertainers performing for passengers; in fact, the flight was renamed VS69, in commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.

The airline asked Kerry if she and her family—the couple was traveling with their two young sons Calum and Cody—if they wanted to change their flight, but it meant traveling on a different day, so the Powell’s kept their plans intact.

And are so happy they did because they all ended up having a fabulous time.

Among the entertainers were Ru Paul Drag Race alumn Courtney Act, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Titus Burgess, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here winner Scarlett Moffatt and Strictly Come Dancing’s AJ Prichard; DJ Jodie Harsh spun some tunes while passengers danced, painted their faces with rainbows and ate Pride eclairs. An 80-year-old Stonewall veteran named Tree Sequoia was also onboard.

And the Powell family, especially their children, had a ball, with four-year-old Calum and one-year-old Cody busting a move Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” played on the overhead speakers.

Kerry called it an amazing flight that her kids loved, and even better, the eight-hour plane ride just, um, flew by.

Makes me wish that all flights could be Drag Queen flights.

LGBTQNation

An ISBL Travelogue

So ... we were on vacation ...

Toledo, Oregon, my father’s new, old home. He lived there with my Mom until she passed away, and then a couple of years later he moved way up north to Sumas, Washington. Sumas never felt like home, but he’d secured a long-term lease agreement for his Toledo house and waited the five years until the tenant moved and then Dad came back home to Oregon.

This is the The Timbers in “downtown” Toledo. I’m of a mind that every single coastal town has a bar called The Timbers or The Driftwood.

Newport, Oregon. The Newport Bridge, from the bay and from the beach, and the seal population in the harbor. Oy, the noise they make … like Carlos practicing his trumpet. [And, yes, I told that joke to him and he did not laugh!]

The Rogue Brewery in Newport where one can, and did, enjoy a Chipotle Ale whilst overlooking the harbor. One also enjoyed what was left of Carlos’ Hazelnut Ale, too.

Three lighthouses along the Oregon coast; the first, top left, is at Yaquina Head and is the tallest along the coast; plus the coastline there, the birds and the surf, is just so gorgeous and peaceful. The second, top right, is the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport; it sits atop the lighthouse keeper’s cottage. It’s pretty, but holds a wee sad memory for me. My mother and father volunteered as tour guides there when they first moved to Oregon and, one day, my mother slipped on the stairs and broke her ankles … plural. That was due to years of smoking which caused the bones to become spongy but, as the doctor told my mom, there was no sign of lung cancer. A year later she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Sad memory, pretty house. The last is the Heceta Head lighthouse a bit further down the coast. It sits on a gorgeous point of land, and the keeper’s cottage is a B&B now, where my parents spent their fiftieth, and last, wedding anniversary.

Another view of the Heceta Head lighthouse and the beach …

Local Ocean Seafood in Newport. It’s run by fishermen’s wives, and all the fish is as fresh as fish can be when it’s caught, brought ashore, and then carried form the boat, across the street, and into the restaurant. Any and all profits from the business go to help local fishermen’s families in times of need, so it’s good for you and good for the community. 

This tree, in Toledo, seems to be trying to tell me something ….

The Bridge Over Troubled Waters, or, as it’s called in Oregon, the Bridge Over The Devil’s Churn; just another gorgeous spot along the coastline.

The weather was so beautiful the entire time we were out there, save this one day when we visited Depoe Bay and the sky was gray and the seas were ragged. Even then … beautiful.

The night before, though, my Dad had taken us up to Depoe Bay to the Tidal Raves for dinner; the food was amazing, the view was spectacular, and our waiter had great guns and a nice butt. No matter where I looked, I saw The Pretty.

Nye Beach; kinda tourist, kinda quaint. And home to Nana’sIrish Pub where I had the best Irish Coffee—mostly Irish with a little java—and a killer Reuben Sandwich. After eating, we went into a little shop and started chatting up the owner. When she found out we were from South Carolina she told us she had a tenant upstairs who had recently moved to Nye from Ashville, North Carolina, So we were talking North Carolina and it’s crazy Bathroom Bill, and how beautiful Asheville is, when the phone rang; it was the tenant, from upstairs, who’d heard us talking through the floor, and was coming down to meet the two guys from Camden. She brought he freshly bathed dog with her and we chatted South and North Carolina for quite some time; just makes you realize how small the world really is.

Astoria, Oregon. That little needle at the top is the Astoria Column with spectacular views all around. You can climb to the top and walk out on that little teeny tiny balcony but, well, it was very windy that day and I was sure I‘d be blown—and not in a good way—of the top of that big rod so I stayed put. That last picture is a view from the Column looking down on Astoria; the bridge crosses the Columbia River into Washington. Now, is it just me or does anyone else expect Julie Andrews to come twirling across that hillside signing about climbing mountains?

While in Astoria we stopped in at Baked Alaska for lunch and views and a lovely glass of Albariño, my favorite Portuguese wine. It’s one of those wines, and restaurants, where you want to sit and sip all day long … we did not, sadly.

We had planned to stay in Astoria but then we chose to drive into Portland for our last day to see the Japanese Gardens. We’ve been before on a previous trip, but it’s so peaceful there, and so lush—no, they don’t sell wine …sorry—that we wanted another visit. That is the Zen Garden from above, and a stone pillar inside the garden itself.

More of the gardens, with the pure white sand gardens and the beautiful, almost neon, moss gardens.

Just two of the ponds and waterfalls in the gardens, and the hillsides behind.

And the Koi Pond, too. Plus a little stone temple icon; there are scattered throughout the gardens and sometimes you might not even see one of you aren’t really looking and enjoying.

On our way to the airport, whilst driving through Portland, I saw the Boy’s Fort. If anyone knows Stephen Rutledge — he has a blog called Post ApocalypticBohemian ... though he posts mostly on Facebook now — the Boy’s Forts is what he and his husband dubbed their back garden at their Portland house. Stephen’s husband, a designers, and a partner, opened a Boy’s Fort pop-up store last year that was so successful, it is now a full-fledged, thriving, fabulous Mecca for manthropology!

Anyway … those are few pictures—seriously, I took hundreds—of the trip. It was so nice to get away; so nice to see my Dad and help him get settled back at home; and so nice just to spend time with Carlos away from home and work …

Now, time to plan another getaway.

10 Black Women Kicked Off Of Train For Laughing Too Loudly

There is nothing worse … nothing … than being on a train with a bunch of colored women laughing. I’m guessing.

See, while riding the train with these eleven Black women, well, ten Black women and one white woman … what the hell was she doing there … who were having a good time, a white woman was infuriated by all the laughter and walked right up to the women and told them their laughter was bothering her and that this was “not a bar.”

At the next stop, the Eleven Angry Women were escorted off the train and met by police, though no charges were filed.

Oh, wait, I got ahead of myself. I hate when that happens.

See, these eleven women were part of a book club, and were riding the train … in California … in the Napa Valley.

It was a wine train that takes people through wine country and serves wine while doing so.

According to a Facebook post by Lisa Renee Johnson, one of the women in the group, the trouble started when the woman in that photo approached them and said she was annoyed by their laughter. A maître d’ then came by and told the women they were making too much noise and when he was asked who was complaining he replied, “People’s faces are uncomfortable.”

Huh. What?

The Napa Valley Wine Train posted a message to their Facebook page accusing the women of “verbal and physical abuse toward other guests and staff” but they quickly deleted that post, though  not before Johnson captured a screenshot.

The group received a full refund but Johnson also wants an apology.

“It was humiliating. I’m really offended to be quite honest. I felt like it was a racist attack on us. I feel like we were being singled out.”

Let me see if I have this right; a group of women, out for a day of traveling through wine country, on a wine train, while drinking wine, were laughing and having fun, but because some people’s faces were “uncomfortable” they were removed from the train to face the police.

Uh huh. Welcome to America where it’s apparently not all right to be caught #LaughingWhileBlack.

Think Progress

Top Photo Source

A Little Fourth of July ....

I could get used to a Four-Day-Weekend; it really wouldn't take that much. But then there's that whole Four-Day-Work-Week with which to contend ... Oy. Still, it was a nice weekend. 

Friday was a lazy day, until it came time to travel down to the Kershaw-Cornwallis House ... that's it up there ... where Carlos would be playing with the Camden Community Band at a Fourth of July event.; that's him, over there, in the blue cap.

For those who don’t know, and, really, why should you, Camden is the oldest inland town in South Carolina. It began as part of a township plan ordered by King George II in 1730, and was originally called Fredericksburg Township and then Pine Tree Hill.

When Joseph Kershaw arrived in town from England in 1758 he established a store for a Charleston mercantile firm, and ten years later the town was the inland trade center in the colony. Kershaw then suggested the town be renamed Camden, in honor of Lord Camden, champion of colonial rights. 

In May of 1780, after Charleston fell to the British, Lord Charles Cornwallis, along with his 2,500 British troops, marched into Camden and took the house as their main supply post for the Southern Campaign.  A pair of battles were fought nearby: the Battle of Camden, the worst American battle defeat of the Revolution, on August 16, 1780, and the battle between the American and British a year later, when General Nathanael Greene and approximately 1,400 Americans engaged 950 British soldiers commanded by Lord Francis Rawdon; that battle forced the Redcoats out of Camden.

So, that’s where the band played ... It was a nice night, a little breeze, the threat of rain that never happened, and a multitude of patriotic songs.

Then it was off to dinner at a local bar, where they know me — go figure — and make the most delicious Bob-a-rita; yes, it’s named after me, because I invented it in California and brought it with me to the East Coast, but if you want one, here’s the deal:

2 parts Anejo Tequila

1 part Grand Marnier

1 part Fresh Lime Juice

Pour over ice, shake it until chilled, strain into a martini glass and garnish with Fresh lime.

It’s que delicoso!

On Saturday we joined The Gays at David and Neal’s — our former neighbors, AKA The Round-The-Way-Gays who moved a little further away, and are now the Down-The-Way-Gays — for some grillin’ and swimmin’ and chatting and drinking and eatin’ and just fun times.

I had planned to take pictures, but I was Sangria’d and so the camera stayed in the pocket, but suffice to say it was fun, and The Gays begged Carlos and I to have another Cinco de Never party next May. I’m kinda glad they asked now, because Carlos makes about a hundred tamales and that takes time, so we gotta get to work!

David and Neal has just purchased a new grand piano and Carlos will play any keyboard he comes across so after lunch he serenaded a group of us with his talents. I watched him play, and saw how much he loved it, and saw that maybe he'd like a sequined fur cape and a candelabra, so, on the way home, we discussed the idea of getting him his own piano.

Of course he'll have to mix in some showtunes with his love for Bach so I can Michelle Pfeiffer that piano; just sayin'.

Sunday was rest and relaxation and rain.

Today is my day because Carlos just had a Three-Day-Weekend and he’s back at work so I will do whatever I want today … until it’s time to make dinner and … sigh ... back to work tomorrow.

Hope y’all had a nice peaceful weekend as well.