Tag Archives: Big Gay Holidays
Stop: Florida Time!
Mentally I just realized that in a week I’ll be in Florida. I’m glad I remembered to pre-mark that time off in my appointment book.
This year, the Husbear and I will be driving the 1138 miles from Pea Ridge to Orlando. Mostly because it’s way cheaper than flying thanks to the fuel-efficiency of the Prius. Mostly. Plus we get to sight-see along the way. And we’ll be picking up some friends half-way along the journey in Birmingham for a shared ride.
This will be our sixth trip to Florida for Gay Days. The Husbear We actually go mostly for the Tidal Wave Party at Wet ‘n Wild on Friday, and the “goings-on” that occur at the Parliament House all weekend, but usually manage to make it to Disney World on Saturday. But actually it’s a time to hang out with friends we don’t get to see but a few times a year.
Of course there will be no living with the Husbear for the next week as the date draws closer. He’s like a kid who’s been told he’s going to Disney World. Oh, wait….
click to see it bigger on flickr
I guess this also means I need to make some sort of effort to visit the parental units and the siblings while I’m there, since they all live in the Orlando area. Not that they ever come see me in Arkansas….
Until next time...
How I spent my four-day weekend…
I would have posted this sooner, but my first day back at the tattoo studio yesterday kicked my butt.
If you were following my Tweets or Facebook updates, you could have potentially seen that this past Thursday the Husbear and I (and about 1,500 other men…) headed down to Dallas for TBRU 16 .
This post contains links back to images I posted in real time in my “adlibbed” category while on this trip. You’ll enjoy those pictures, I swear.
Of course, as soon as we got there we met up with our friends Tory and Dwayne who live on the opposite side of the state from us. Here’s Dwayne:
His partner Tory, like my Husbear, is rather stealthy and hard to capture on camera.
I also had my first beverage of the weekend.
We headed out for a full night at the Round-Up Saloon and the Dallas Eagle .
After that wonderful evening, I made my way back to the hotel room on the public transportation provided by the TBRU crew. Only to find we had some plumbing issues. The hotel was kind enough to move us to a new room. At which point *I* moved all our stuff to the new room. At 3 AM. And “slightly” intoxicated.
Friday was filled with food, then socializing around the hotel until the Big D Bear Dance with BLOWOFF! Musicians/DJs Bob Mould & Rich Morel. I had an incredible time. It was a well-done production. So many people, many dancing, and many socializing in the various areas of Station 4 .
While I was there, I ran into a certain web-development person I recognized from my early years in designing websites. Some of you might even remember his whole “Sucky to Savvy” thing? I speak none-other than (the quite adorable!) Jeff Glover:
I even wore my utility kilt that night.
Saturday there was a Bear Pool party. The smell of chlorine was… strong. And then came a full evening for me at the Round-Up again. I got to meet up with Thomas and his partner there that night as well. Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of them this visit.
Sunday was the final day of TBRU. The Husbear was exhausted by this point, no doubt due to his social activities. We all went to “church” at the Hidden Door , which was packed.
It was also Dwayne’s birthday. There were a lot of hot men there. Speaking of, I got to meet up with Jim of “Jim’s Stuff“:
He had just gotten back from a ren event and was looking dashing in his kilt.
I spent most of the day there, then wandered over to the Eagle to find the Husbear. After that, it was back to the hotel quite early at 10:30 PM at which point I totally crashed out until the next morning.
We then drove an “alternate” route home, because we like to do that. Somehow, the Husbear’s directions included driving on a single-lane dirt road through a swamp in Oklahoma.
I’m not sure how we survived.
Thank you TBRU, and to the City of Dallas, for a great time and awesome hospitality.
Until next time...