Pride-A Deeper Love...In Columbus
Somewhat at the last minute, my friend Robbie and I decided to head to Columbus for their Pride festivities this past weekend. I packed Thursday night and then Robbie picked me up after work. After a quick shower for Robbie and such, we made our way up to Columbus.
We stayed with a friend of ours, Clay, but we weren't alone. Clay had opened his home to several other friends for the weekend, so it made for a fun and interesting time. Among us were Brian and Billy (an interesting couple I had met before) and their friends Albert and Gary. Also, Clay's friends, Stan and Ed arrived later. Friday evening was spent just chatting with them and watching TV. I finally got to see Another Gay Movie. OMG that movie is just WRONG! That's all I can say. It's funny and stupid and really GAY. There were some scenes I couldn't even watch...
Saturday arrived sooner rather then later (staying up until 3am and getting up at 9:30 can do that), but we made it up. After a while, we were all ready to head downtown for the Pride parade. It's rather amazing to see that the parade and festival are downtown. It was a wonderful parade with plenty of eye candy and other great things to see. Amongst those in the parade were LJers William shelbycub and Philcmhphil and the Court and On Broadway bars from here in Cincinnati.
From the parade, we decided to make our way to the festival. I spent most of the time walking around and seeing all the booths. I saw many Cincy folks and other friends. Included in the list are BooBoo booboobob, Brian cincycub, Derek _decibel_ and his partner, Chris. I also ran into a face I hadn't seen in several months: Shawn! It was good to see him. He's looking really good now. I also saw Chris chrisglass and his partner, Dan, selling t-shirts (yes, I bought one...they're sweet!) and ran into Rob rcthebearcub and Terry svtcobrafreak and Andrew ltjgcon and John pirateseasick. There were more people that I saw and hugged and met and ran into. It was great to see all these people. However, the walking around and the heat were getting to me. Plus, I was hungry, so Robbie and I left the festivities around 6pm or so and made it back to Clay's where we met the rest of the gang (minus Clay, Gary, Stan and Ed).
We were all hungry, so we decided to head out to dinner together. Brian, Billy, Albert, Robbie and myself hit a restaurant that they had been to before called Hoggys. It was a BBQ place and it was very good. The food was great, but they were busy so the service wasn't 100%. However, I had good company with all of these guys and it made the dinner fun and entertaining. The highlight of the evening was when Albert got his food. Albert has a big personality and spirit despite his small stature (he's only 4'5") and for dinner he ordered a platter of ribs and chicken wings with onion rings. This plate was HUGE! Pictures were taken and laughter ensued. A great time had by all.
We made it back to Clay's after dinner and got ready to go out. Robbie and I decided to head out to hit the bars and we were the only ones. Clay and Ed had left earlier as Clay volunteered to sell jello shots at Tradewinds. I'll get to TWs in a minute. I put on my kilt and we made our way to WOOFs first, where William was DJing and to meet up with Stan. The music was great, but I just don't think the crowd was into dancing. Don't ask me why. It was rather busy there, despite the rain that was falling outside. I ran into Phil and his bf Don there as well. It was a good time, but Robbie wanted to meet some of his friends at TWs and a part of me wanted to go there, too. So, with Stan in tow, we made our way to Tradewinds. BIG MISTAKE! It was PACKED. It was HOT (and not in the good way)! It was CROWDED!! Robbie couldn't handle it at all and I was getting pretty close to hating it, too. One good point of the evening though was that I ran into a college friend of mine, Justin. I found that he was living in Columbus last year during Bear Camp and we finally got a short time to hang out this evening. It was nice seeing him again. The bar, unfortunately, was not a good place to rehash memories at that time. After I made a couple of rounds around the bar to see if I saw anyone else I knew (I did...), I made it back to Robbie and we had some food at Plugged Nickel before making our way to Clay's. Note to self: Don't go to Tradewinds during Pride LOL. Anyway, we got back and quickly got to bed. On the car ride home, the pace of the day and evening finally got to me and I was tired. Sleep came quickly for me.
I awoke around 10:30am on Sunday and got packed somewhat before we all decided to grab some grub. Clay, Ed, Brian, Billy, Albert, Robbie, and I made our way to Tee Jays for a meal. We had a great waitress and several interesting conversations and moments. It was a great way to end my Pride weekend, being gay and out and proud with friends who are enjoying life and having a good time. That's what it was and I enjoyed it. Afterwards, we all went our separate ways. We said goodbye to Brian, Billy, and Albert as they made their way back towards Cincinnati. Then, Clay and Ed went to go see Bat-n-Rouge, a drag baseball game, while Robbie and I spent some time relaxing and chatting before finally getting on the road back to Cincinnati.
It was a great time and an amazing experience. My first Pride was Columbus Pride back in 2000. Heading back 7 years later was just as good. I had a great time with good friends and meeting some other people.
We stayed with a friend of ours, Clay, but we weren't alone. Clay had opened his home to several other friends for the weekend, so it made for a fun and interesting time. Among us were Brian and Billy (an interesting couple I had met before) and their friends Albert and Gary. Also, Clay's friends, Stan and Ed arrived later. Friday evening was spent just chatting with them and watching TV. I finally got to see Another Gay Movie. OMG that movie is just WRONG! That's all I can say. It's funny and stupid and really GAY. There were some scenes I couldn't even watch...
Saturday arrived sooner rather then later (staying up until 3am and getting up at 9:30 can do that), but we made it up. After a while, we were all ready to head downtown for the Pride parade. It's rather amazing to see that the parade and festival are downtown. It was a wonderful parade with plenty of eye candy and other great things to see. Amongst those in the parade were LJers William shelbycub and Philcmhphil and the Court and On Broadway bars from here in Cincinnati.
From the parade, we decided to make our way to the festival. I spent most of the time walking around and seeing all the booths. I saw many Cincy folks and other friends. Included in the list are BooBoo booboobob, Brian cincycub, Derek _decibel_ and his partner, Chris. I also ran into a face I hadn't seen in several months: Shawn! It was good to see him. He's looking really good now. I also saw Chris chrisglass and his partner, Dan, selling t-shirts (yes, I bought one...they're sweet!) and ran into Rob rcthebearcub and Terry svtcobrafreak and Andrew ltjgcon and John pirateseasick. There were more people that I saw and hugged and met and ran into. It was great to see all these people. However, the walking around and the heat were getting to me. Plus, I was hungry, so Robbie and I left the festivities around 6pm or so and made it back to Clay's where we met the rest of the gang (minus Clay, Gary, Stan and Ed).
We were all hungry, so we decided to head out to dinner together. Brian, Billy, Albert, Robbie and myself hit a restaurant that they had been to before called Hoggys. It was a BBQ place and it was very good. The food was great, but they were busy so the service wasn't 100%. However, I had good company with all of these guys and it made the dinner fun and entertaining. The highlight of the evening was when Albert got his food. Albert has a big personality and spirit despite his small stature (he's only 4'5") and for dinner he ordered a platter of ribs and chicken wings with onion rings. This plate was HUGE! Pictures were taken and laughter ensued. A great time had by all.
We made it back to Clay's after dinner and got ready to go out. Robbie and I decided to head out to hit the bars and we were the only ones. Clay and Ed had left earlier as Clay volunteered to sell jello shots at Tradewinds. I'll get to TWs in a minute. I put on my kilt and we made our way to WOOFs first, where William was DJing and to meet up with Stan. The music was great, but I just don't think the crowd was into dancing. Don't ask me why. It was rather busy there, despite the rain that was falling outside. I ran into Phil and his bf Don there as well. It was a good time, but Robbie wanted to meet some of his friends at TWs and a part of me wanted to go there, too. So, with Stan in tow, we made our way to Tradewinds. BIG MISTAKE! It was PACKED. It was HOT (and not in the good way)! It was CROWDED!! Robbie couldn't handle it at all and I was getting pretty close to hating it, too. One good point of the evening though was that I ran into a college friend of mine, Justin. I found that he was living in Columbus last year during Bear Camp and we finally got a short time to hang out this evening. It was nice seeing him again. The bar, unfortunately, was not a good place to rehash memories at that time. After I made a couple of rounds around the bar to see if I saw anyone else I knew (I did...), I made it back to Robbie and we had some food at Plugged Nickel before making our way to Clay's. Note to self: Don't go to Tradewinds during Pride LOL. Anyway, we got back and quickly got to bed. On the car ride home, the pace of the day and evening finally got to me and I was tired. Sleep came quickly for me.
I awoke around 10:30am on Sunday and got packed somewhat before we all decided to grab some grub. Clay, Ed, Brian, Billy, Albert, Robbie, and I made our way to Tee Jays for a meal. We had a great waitress and several interesting conversations and moments. It was a great way to end my Pride weekend, being gay and out and proud with friends who are enjoying life and having a good time. That's what it was and I enjoyed it. Afterwards, we all went our separate ways. We said goodbye to Brian, Billy, and Albert as they made their way back towards Cincinnati. Then, Clay and Ed went to go see Bat-n-Rouge, a drag baseball game, while Robbie and I spent some time relaxing and chatting before finally getting on the road back to Cincinnati.
It was a great time and an amazing experience. My first Pride was Columbus Pride back in 2000. Heading back 7 years later was just as good. I had a great time with good friends and meeting some other people.