Bay to Breakers
WARNING!!! XXX PICTURES!!!!!
This topic is about the Bay to Breakers Race in San Francisco and contains some pictures that may be offensive to some people. People run in this race completely in the nude except for their running shoes. We did take pictures of these people (They posed for us!!) and there is full frontal nudity. If you are under 18 years of age do not proceed further. If you are physically over 18 years old but mentally under 18 you may proceed.
FACTOID: Bay to Breakers started as a race in 1912 as a morale booster for the city that suffered an earthquake in 1906.
FACTOID: The first female to compete in the race was in 1940 but she did it disguised as a man.
FACTOID: The youngest girl to win the women's division was a 10-year old who won in 1974. She won again in 1975 and 1976.
FACTOID: The Guinness Book of Records has Bay to Breakers as the largest footrace with almost 80,000 registered runners entered in 1986.
For the second year in a row we went to San Francisco to run the Bay to Breakers Race. Originally started in 1912 as the Cross City Race it was to be a moral booster for the city after the 1906 earthquake.
PRE-RACE
Photo: The packet pick-up for the race was at the Civic Center near the city hall of San Francisco. The building was finished in 1915 and has the 5th largest dome in the world according to Wikipedia, which I believe only about ¼ of the time.
Photo: Our friend Beth came to San Francisco to run the Bay to Breakers with us. The first night we went to Kuleto's Italian Restaurant with her cousin Ed and his wife Bell. The food was excellent. Kuleto's is on the first floor of one of the first `boutique' hotels near Union Square where I used to stay 35 years ago when I came to San Francisco on Business. It is now the Villa Florence and is expensive.
Photo: We again stayed at the Golden Gate Hotel near Union Square. We like the hotel because it has free jellybeans - Jelly Belly's.
Photo: We also like the hotel because it has a cat (Pip) that roams around and will go in your room if you leave the door open. This photo is of the cat drinking out of the sink in our room.
Photo: ..investigating our room…
Photo: ..and leaving us by way of the fire escape…
Photo: … and posing with Beth in the hallway…
Photo: Beth changed rooms four times in the four nights we were there. One night she was in the room right outside ours and we could and did try to enter her room from the fire escape. Beth either brings her own sheets or as the picture shows sleeps in her clothes so that her skin does not touch the 'foreign' sheets.
RACE DAY
Photo: They start the race according to estimated time of your finish. We cheated a little when we registered to get as close to the front as possible so we could see most of the people as they passed us. People bring huge bags of soft tortilla shells that are thrown in the air.
Photo: Some people who worked for Kashi, the cereal maker, were there dressed as boxes of cereal.
Photo: There was a whole group of people all dressed as Elvis.
Photo: There are bands that play all along the racecourse. Our favorite was the Meshuginahs.
Photo: The worst part of the run or walk for us was Hayes Hill - a street that has a rather steep incline and goes on for a couple of blocks. The Pope who was out there giving encouragement helped us up the hill.
Photo: Beth found a dog along the route that looked just like her dog Dibley.
Photo: A lone Elvis was on the side of the road. We remembered him from last year's race.
Photo: The Fell Street Porch Potatoes are out every year watching and drinking as the runners go by.
Photo: Going down the other side of Hayes Street. The nice thing about going up a hill is that there is always a downhill side.
Photo: The King poses with a pretty thing watching the runners.
Photo: The King exposes one walker's backside.
Photo: The Queen and Beth with some balloon people. People walked the 7.5 miles with all sorts of different costumes.
Photo: At the finish we found this pig who had walked the entire 7.5 miles in this outfit.
Photo: These people had dragged out onto the street what appeared to be their entire living room just to be comfortable as they watched the race.
Photo: There were many floats that followed the walkers.
WARNING!!!! XXX TO FOLLOW!!!!
THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS ARE XXX RATED. DO NOT PROCEED PAST THIS POINT IF YOU ARE NOT ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT.
POST RACE
Photo: The Queen and Beth at the afternoon tea at the Golden Gate Hotel. This is a couple that we saw everyday while we were there.
Photo: The King and Queen visited the Contemporary Jewish Museum in downtown San Francisco. It is located in an old power plant.
Photo: We saw this restaurant in China town and liked the name.
Photo: Stockton Street in China town had some incredible animals and vegetables in the various stores and markets.
Photo: This was a rally in front of the Israeli consulate in San Francisco. The pro-Palestinians were on one side of the street and the pro-Israelis were on the other. The pro-Israelis are the ones with the American flags. No surprise there. They group told me that the Palestinians come every week to stand there so the Jewish group does also.
We passed this demonstration on the way to Tadich Grill for dinner. Tadich Grill bills itself as the oldest restaurant in San Francisco and it does have an `old world' feel having been there since the Gold Rush days. However, you cannot make reservations so we had to stand and wait for quite a bit, it is somewhat overpriced and they have a minimum charge of $11.50 when you sit down so there is no such thing as sharing.
Photo: The King and Queen stand in front of the theater where Beach Blanket Babylon plays. We noticed in the airport that the play was celebrating its 35th anniversary in San Francisco. The King remembers when it opened and had always wanted to go.
Photo: This is the ad for Beach Blanket Babylon in the airport. The play is famous for the hats worn by the entertainers and this hat is worn at the end of the play and actually has a small cable car moving around the outside of the hat.
Photo: Another picture of the famous San Francisco hat from Beach Blanket Babylon.
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