When I lived in Seattle before, I lived in Fremont. Fremont is the self-proclaimed “Center of the Universe.” It is very left, hippy-dippy, artsy-fartsy–interesting. It is the home of the Summer Solstice Parade and Festival, and Robert had to go and experience it at least once, so why not our first week here? =)

Usually the parade has been filled with Bush-bashing, so I was curious as to what they were going to do this year. I wasn’t surprised that it was focused more on the environment this year but there was an ode to Hooverville in the middle of the parade, along with a jibe at the pope, a kickball club, complete with a huge show kicking a ball down the street, some incredible gowns made of paper for some ice princess thing supporting some cause, and of course the Hari Krishnas- LOL . There was a huge ball they were rolling down the road, which Robert got out and run over by, and I got 3 hugs from the Super Huggers! LOL

At the beginning of the parade, for the last 7 years (i think its been 7) the parade has been led off by naked bicyclist. They are usually painted in some guise. There was a silver surfer, policemen, bride & groom – I even saw Captain Kirk. LOL Its funny, some people ride sans paint, and the people sitting next to us were yelling “more paint!” I had to agree!

There was one disturbing point for me this year though. There was this one old guy, think Jerry Garcia, crazy gray hair flowing all around like crazy, walking down the street wearing nothing but chaps. Meaning he was free flowing in the back AND front. Now the bicyclist for the most part choose this as a way to show their artistic freedom – and exhibitionist tendencies— but this guy was just disturbing. He was walking back and forth shaking himself in front of the crowd – it was all just look at me and my 65 year+-old penus. I would have preferred that they took him off the street, but I think the feeling was if they banned him, who else would be banned. Oh well.

Robert and I wandered around through the festival booths after the parade and finally headed home. And what a long walk was that. We have to park 10 blocks away—and it was all uphill all the way home. We had to take a couple of breaks on the way back. One kid was smart and was selling lemonade for 50¢ but he was giving jokes away for free—and he was more excited about giving away the jokes than selling the lemonade – LOL