A very gay San Fran and San Diego welcoming took place post our epic roadtrip south. A colourful change from the rural farmer gatherings we have been partaking in for the last few months where people wear checked shirts and wellies 🙂

We awoke slowly, enjoying not having to rush anywhere after the day befores adventures! We did a meditation and ate some tastiness. I got concerned about not being ready in time when the girls started getting ready. After a swift showerr and I’d thrown on my clothes I realized I needn’t have worried! Farmers market outings in San Fran are for the dressing up and enjoying mornings of the weekend 🙂 All the cool kids, the queers and the alternatives head there to meet, socialise and enjoy the good food, good produce and each other!

The girls got glammed up retro style, matching accessories and vintage outfits. They looked FAB! Our bags were packed and ready to jet off in the afternoon as we climbed into the beautiful “Angel” – an old 1984 classic mercedes – in white, with cream leather. She very much lives up to the name! And absolutely suited the girls look. We were all set in our favorites and ready to hit the city!

Greta got accessory envy as we walked along the river to the market behind the girls.

Hip bags, neck scarfs and random bits of material mixed with beautiful boots and leggings Sparkle was rocking it! I was more partial to Kuris awesomely neon fanny pack personally 🙂 Complete 80’s badass!

We saw more gay couples on that simple 500 metre walk than I think live in the whole of Southern Oregon! All out, loving and happy. It was so wonderful to see happy families, couples and a world of diversity of races, genders and communities all enjoying the grass, sunshine and atmosphere along the river. Some great artwork and retro style awesomeness everywhere!

 

 

 

The farmers market was wonderful. Full of colour and open minded talkative people that quickly became friends. Contacts swapped, laughter and in depth chats had and all over a hand blended coffee and tea stop off 🙂 A sweeeet little cafe where a sweet lady roasts and grinds the beans herself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

San Francisco Farmers Markets are the Artisan of EVERY stall you can imagine!

 

AND we had lush organic yumminess and green smoothies. What more do you want for a Saturday morning!

Seemed everyone heads to the farmers market on a Saturday morning to grab the weeks shopping and just catch up with friends and hang out in the sun.

Fabulousness!

Our previous idea of heading to the highest point in San Francisco soon got parked once we settled into a little live music from a guy rocking out some reggae found a good spot on the grass and enjoyed the variety of life at the market!

My only “have to” was San Francisco bridge. Its always had that dramatic affect on me for some reason, that bridge, so I was super happy when I found out it was on the way to the airport and with our take off swiftly approaching it was just as well!

We took a wander back to the car with some last minute bartering with stall holders giving us some good yummy veg stocks for our onward journey!

We climbed aboard Angel and headed to the bridge to cross to the centre of San Fran.

Crossing the bridge was AMAZING! With the old school songs on the radio to sing to, the incredible views, the sunroof open filling the car with sunshine, and the white and cream leather interior enveloping us all in our blissed out states it was a prime time to whoop about just HOW wonderful life is! And just how BLESSED we are to be living!

 

I took photos out of the sunroof of the iconic bridge structure and took in the whole experience with everything I could! One of those happiest moments in life 🙂

Once across the bridge the airport was only a short way and after a swift goodbye to the girls with many thanks we headed to our plane to San Diego! The flight was FULL of spectacular scenery, with miles of deserted landscape, acres and acres of the monoculture from above blended with a few farmer towns spaced sporadically amongst the checkboard fields. And some dramatic snow capped mountains! What a gorgeous flight!

 

Arriving in San Diego was SUPER exciting! Seeing Aisha and Bubzi again after nearly a year, getting a ride in her Mercedes convertible with the roof down to her beautiful apartment that she had wonderfully offered us to sleep at for the week we were there for our Sustainable Brands conference.

We settled in and before we knew it had been given a full run down of the gay scene and a whistle stop intro to all Aishas friends! We all bundled into the car to head out for a taste of the San Diego gay clubs and a great night out dancing. I had forgotten how it was in clubs, with everyone checking everyone else out and I tell you for sure the San Diego girls are NOT shy!

A LOT of fun and laughter with a few challenging moments settling us into a secure space and the night out lasted until we were some of the few people left in the club!

Being out and proud and surrounded by gays brought up a few fears and opportunities for healing that led to some beautiful heart opening chats in the morning as me and Greta explored how we felt about the night before. Its funny how a scene that used to be SO much of my life, that I still LOVE to be in, now has different meaning for me. Now its about celebrating my friends, and the love I share with my wonderful girlfriend. Not about drinking and meeting girls. Happy reflections on where my heart truly is these days and what a blessing the change in me is 🙂 I wouldn’t swap it for the world!

We went and jumped on Aisha and we dressed and headed into the city with Bubzi for some lunch at the local organic cafe. Lush food, and great philosophical conversations.

Aisha headed off to school for the rest of the day (2nd year Architecture in Finals week hold NO mercy for her!) and we headed to the apartment to prepare for the start of conference the following morning!

Gays, lovings, friendships, connections, great food and amazing experiences…. It turns out the US “city visiting” wasnt as bad as I thought 😀

And it also turns out San Diego and the roadtrip back to Southern Oregon had LOTS more in the pipeline for us!

More to come soon 🙂

Much love to you all

Gayle

xxxxx