Only in SF

It's been a rather festive few weeks in San Francisco.  First, there was Bay to Breakers, a bay area tradition that transcends clothing, and then for Memorial Day Weekend, we went to the roller disco at the Church of 8 Wheels and the horse races at Golden Gate Fields.

For Bay to Breakers, Brittany, Gio, and I attached ourselves to James and his group, who were going as race cars.  We decided to compliment their idea by turning ourselves into all varieties of street paraphernalia, altogether a stoplight, with racing flags, street signs, traffic cone hats, and road dashes down our backs.

I'd never participated in this race parade before, and felt it was my duty as an SF resident to experience it at least once.  The experience is perfect for anyone who likes to be silly and dress up, day drink, people watch, and give up all physiological needs.  I only like half those things, but had a great time anyway!  

There were some great group costumes.  My favorites were:

1. A clutch of chickens, including Colonel Sanders with a butcher knife
2. Trophy Wives, dressed in wedding gowns with their heads in portable wall plaques
3. Human Beer Pong, with people wearing life-size solo cups, asking strangers to try to shoot in the volleyball

Still, it's not all fun and games, with people having a hard time getting their physiological needs met.  Brittany almost got in a fight while trying to bribe people to cut, and simultaneously getting mad at someone for cutting her.  Here she is trying to reason:

To continue the quirkiness, the next weekend we went to the roller disco at The Church of 8 Wheels, hosted by the Godfather of Skate.  We made sure to dress 70s disco for the occasion-lots of costumes in the month of May!

The venue is a church exclusively turned skating rink, with pews lining the walls, crosses hanging all around, and a whole bunch of bearded hippies roller skating under a disco ball to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.  

We got to interact with lots of characters who are there on a more than weekly basis, and a couple of them helped to teach us how to skate better.  I was even going backwards by the end!  It really was a hilariously fun night.

The next day we went to Golden Gate Fields to watch the horse races, which is something I've always wanted and have never taken the opportunity to do.  It was a gorgeous day, and such a high-energy experience.  I didn't realize how non-relaxing it would be, as we ended up running in the following cycle every race: run to the stables to see the horses and decide which ones will win, run to the counter to place our bets, and run upstairs so we have a good view of the race.  Plus the races are about every 25 minutes, and we were there for seven of them.  It was quite a constant rush!

What made it even more fun was not only learning how the betting and probabilities work, but winning bets.  In all seven races, at least one of the five of us won.  Sometimes it would be winning just a couple bucks back, but also Brittany and I each won $38 at one point for correctly guessing the first and second place finishers, and Melissa won $160 for correctly choosing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  That was really incredible!

Seriously, it was such a thrill.  I can't wait to go back, now that I'm a seasoned professional!