For the first time since we arrived here a week and a half ago, the sky was a little overcast this morning. It's funny how easy we start to take things for granted, even sunshine and blue sky, so as much as we didn't want a cloudy day, we quickly appreciated the missing yellow globe. Despite the cloud coverage, the temperatures are still warm, today the mercury reached 28C, so while Rick stayed home to watch NASCAR, Jennifer and I attended the Gay Pride Parade in Palm Springs.

I have never attended a Gay Pride parade, though I have always been curious about them, and apparently Palm Springs hosts a pretty good one so we headed downtown to find it. After parking a couple of blocks from the parade's route, we hiked the rest of the way and found a shady spot to observe the festivities from. The gay and lesbian communities were well represented by a real mixture of folks from inconspicuous to extreme and everyone seemed to be thoroughly entertained. As there is an election here in two days there was also a large number of politicians making their mark, looking for last-minute votes. The colourful floats ranged from Real Estate companies to banks to gay organizations and their affiliates and came in all shapes and sizes. To the delight of the parade watchers, film star Leslie Jordon, who plays the diminutive character, Beverley Leslie, who often comes up against "Karen Walker" in Will & Grace, made an appearance at the parade. We had a great time enjoying the festivities and met some very interesting and nice people, both straight and gay.

When we returned to the campground, I found Rick enjoying the end of the race and so I headed to the pool for my obligatory afternoon swim. I am working hard at maintaining a regular exercise program and between all the walking we did this morning and my swim this afternoon, I am on track. Today's parade may have been a first for me and as disagreeable as some folks may find it, I found it to be fun and educational and I won't hesitate to go to another one in the future.