go homo go: California

Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Disneyland, CA

Disneyland and California Adventure with Lica, Leah and Andrew
December 08 and 09, 2008

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Today’s the big day so we got up at seven to get an early start. We had forgone the Eddie Izzard show the night before, Thomas was feeling sick and we had too much to do. We finally hit the road at 8 30 and stated heading down towards Ventura. As soon as we hit Casitas Springs Thomas blurts out “we forgot to stop at Mom’s house on the way out” So we turn around back up to Oak View to say goodbye to Mom. Then back on the road and back down towards Ventura. The plan was to travel through Cali with a minimum of stops and make it all the way to Arizona.

Along the 126 to Valencia, we pass five restored Model T Fords cruising down the highway. After driving along a series of highways (the same route we usually take to Vegas) we get to Victorville, stop long enough to get a picture of the Route 66 sign and a youth theater called Shenanigans. At the Chevron a girl on a motorcycle had a helmet with a pink Mohawk.

We depart from Hwy 40 to drive along Route 66 and get to a town called Daggett, pretty much a ghost town, but some cool things for photo ops. Newberry Springs and the Bagdad Café is our next stop. We haven’t seen the movie in 15-20 years, luckily they play it on a loop above the register. Thomas takes the owner’s advice and tries a buffalo burger; it turns out to be quite good. We watch the people come in and take pictures. One of the employees tells us about 70% of their business is tourists from FRANCE. I guess the movie Bagdad café has a major following there. We meet a gentleman from Paris with his family that have gone all around the pacific Southwest and are headed towards LA and then Las Vegas. He says he is staying in Santa Monica, but fears it is a bad area. I assure him it is a very nice area, right on the water. He wanted to stay in Santa Barbara but said everything was booked up. We advised him to at least do a day trip there as it is the French Riviera of the West Coast. We leave the cafe just as a tour bus has arrived, we ask one lady where they are from and she says France, go figure.

Driving from Mojave to Arizona is a trip. Once you pass over the Colorado River into Arizona the terrain gets rockier and less sandy. We pull into Lake Havasu about 4 and head towards the Motel 6; cheap accommodations for our first night. Our friend Angelica said it was against the Gay Code of Conduct for us to stay at a Motel 6. We tell her not to let the word get out; oh wait…
It is never a good sign when you show up at your hotel to find the Lake Havasu Crime scene investigation van, four police cars in the front and parking lot closed off. As we head into the hotel Thomas takes a picture with his phone of the CSI van and is asked by a Motel 6 employee to erase the picture. He says OK yet does not.

We are told a “water main has broken" and we have been moved to the sister hotel across town. Guess water mains require assistance by CSI here in Lake Havasu. Read story here We take in a quick swim and decide to head to London Bridge. Despite what Fergie says it is not falling down (maybe she meant her pants) So in the sweltering heat of 113 we walk two and a half miles down to the lake. It’s weird to be in a small London village complete with red phone boxes, Tudor buildings and London Bridge in 113 degrees! Thomas spies a booth selling gondola rides on the lake and is even more confused.

Wedding Day, Ventura County

June 24, 2008

I had been treating the whole situation as if I was going to renew my driver license. Make an appointment, take time off work, head down to the office, wait around with a lot of unhappy people even though you have an appointment – yeah, we’ve all been through it; if not to get our driver license, something equally as painful. It had finally happened – marriage between two men or two women was now legal in the state of California and I was getting hitched.

When we first heard the news, Thomas asked me if I wanted to get married. “Sure, why not?” was my underwhelming response. Not really the romantic response he was seeking, I think. Instead of the great joy in knowing that the California government had finally seen the light, I was kind of non-plussed. Big deal, so now the 17-year relationship that I have shared with this man has some validation? I don’t think so. We had our commitment ceremony 10 years ago with Thomas’ mom walking him down the aisle and my dad accompanying me. We held the festivities at the Marines Memorial in downtown San Francisco and it was the first gay wedding they had had there. The knockout reception and crazy time at the hotel that followed is still talked about amongst our friends. How can we top that? Now we’re “actually” getting married…“Sure, why not?”

Thomas registered for our marriage license online on Monday, June 16th. At the time the form still said bride and groom. “Which one do you want to be?” he asked. “Doesn’t matter to me,” was my response, still with the attitude. He told me it took four tries to finally go through. “Weird,” I said from the other room in-between reading baseball blogs. “The earliest appointment I can get is next Tuesday at 3” he said. “Well I hope I can get off work early,” returning to the blogs.

The week went by, I got permission to leave early and our lives continued as normal. The main difference was that whenever one of us did something the other found annoying, we would say "You know when we're married that shit's gonna stop."

We didn’t tell very many people; I emailed a few friends at work – no biggie. My friend Lica was happy and excited for us. She kept asking me questions to which I would jokingly respond, as I mostly do. She asked what we were going to wear. I told her I suggested we wear our matching blue, floral print shirts but someone wasn’t really going for that idea. Thomas asked Tammy to be our witness and she happily accepted. Good thing he did, I wasn’t going to pay the extra $22 to have the county supply one. It was already going to cost us $142.

So Tuesday is here and I log into work at seven as normal. Thomas says he will be off work at 1:30 and we will leave shortly after I get off work at two. He’s decided to wear a white dress shirt and slacks. “I’ll pick something out,” I say.

Eli and Rocco start barking. It’s not the barking of just someone walking by; it’s the “someone’s at the door” barking. Cody, next door joins the dudes’ woofing chorus. Man, don’t people know I’m working? I get to the door and see a FedEx truck driving away. I look on the doorstep and see a light green box from FTD. Ah, man, Thomas sent me flowers and I didn’t get him anything! I open the box and it is a bouquet of roses and lilies with a small golden box of Godiva chocs. I open the card and it says “Happy Wedding Day. From Nicole and Alysia.” I immediately lose it.

I quickly cut the ends off the stems and put the flowers in a vase – I gotta get back to work. I can arrange them later; hopefully no one will see them in the meantime and take away my gay card. That’s when the emails start… ”Congratulations!”..."Are you nervous?" What was I thinking? The California Supreme Court has now given you the right to get married. GET MARRIED. Buddy, you are getting married today.

Thomas gets home and has the same reaction to the flowers. We both are feeling very emotional and I’m starting to feel a little nervous. What’s that about?! I still have some work to do but now I cannot stay focused so that means I am mainly responding to email. I hear him in the backyard, chatting to someone on the phone.

The dudes start barking again. I go to the front door and there is a little old man standing there with a basket of purple and yellow flowers. At first, I think it is the husband of one of Florence’s friends but it is not. I thank the man and he walks back towards a van parked in front. I notice the name of a florist on the envelope and then look again at the van. There is another old man in the passenger seat. I imagine that these two men own a local florist shop and have lived together for many years. Finally, they have the right to marry. They are so happy to be supplying flowers to same-sex couples that they make the deliveries together. Then Julia Roberts walks up and bitch slaps me. No, wait, it’s Thomas and I show him the new flowers that are from Lica, Leah and Andrew. We are both a little vaklempt...talk amongst yourselves...and lucky to have support from good friends.

The Ceremony, Ventura County

We get to the Ventura County Government Center right behind Tammy. She’s on the phone (of course) and doesn’t see us at first. When we park, she surprises us with two, white rose boutonnières. She had asked the woman at the florist if she should get one corsage and one boutonnière and or two boutonnières and she suggested she get the two – didn’t want there to be any fighting over who got the corsage! As we walked to the courthouse, I was surprised/relieved not to see any protesters. We’re already a week in so maybe the shenanigans have died off.

Waiting in line, I’m looking around wondering if people think that either Thomas or I am marrying Tammy. We are all dressed nicely enough – unlike the couple with the dude in the white t-shirt. It probably was his best one. Oh well, she’s gotta marry him. We get to the counter and the woman, Francisca, is very friendly though not that talkative. I wonder if she is comfortable with having to help two men get married. We make little jokes amongst ourselves and she does the “I’m not joining in but I’m laughing” laugh. Twenty-five years of customer service, I’ve played that game. Wait for the customer to allow you in. I ask her if my check bounces does that mean the marriage is off. Uh, giving you permission here.

Finally, I just ask her if she has processed many same-sex couples and she says oh yeah. That gets her talking and I ask her about protesters and she says there haven’t been any. She thinks it’s because Ventura is more of a small town. She did say there was a couple from Los Angeles that came with the LA Times but that was the biggest hullabaloo (okay my words not hers).

to be continued...

Carpinteria Bluffs

June 22, 2008

More info: Carpinteria Bluffs

Los Angeles Gay Rodeo

June 21, 2008

More info: LA Rodeo

Piedra Blanca

June 15, 2008

Lake Casitas, CA

June 13-14, 2008

More info: Lake Casitas Recreation Area

Route 66: Santa Monica to Pasadena

June 8, 2008

Channel Islands, CA 2008

Talk about avoiding your own backyard. We had been to Harbortown in Ventura numerous times yet had never taken a cruise out to the Channel Islands. It was on our list of "one of these days we should..." Our friend Brenda booked a group to take the tour but after a number of people flaked for various reasons (you know who you are), it ended up being just the three of us and Tammy. We had a great time as the weather was perfect. We didn't make the stopover on the islands themselves but vowed to do that sometime in the future. Ventura and Oxnard sure look beautiful from the coast.

We did see some actual whales and dolphins too.

Two gay dads on the ship with us. Well we assumed they were two gay dads by the way each of the kids interacted with them. So cute, oh the kids too, we guess.