Entries tagged with nadwcon

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nadwcon

Day 8 and last

And so today we drove back to Los Angeles, with

fabula_umbrae reading Johannes Cabal the Necromancer (Jonathan L. Howard) aloud to me, as I still hadn't finished it. Frankly it's more fun read aloud anyway - the author has a lovely time with words. In between, she borrowed my camera and photographed scenery, cacti, someone's elephant sculpture and whatever else caught her eye.

( click here )

Sorry, no tanks - we skipped the Patton museum, being more interested in getting home. Maybe next time we go out that way.

We got back at around 5:30, encountering pretty light traffic most of the way, then went out to dinner, I took her home, unpacked, took the guitar Leslie Fish sent to Barry Gold over to the Golds, came home, hauled in stuff and have just finished the final entry in this series. Though I'll likely be back Friday when ConChord starts.

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nadwcon

Day 7

Slept until noon, recuperating from the con, then after various and sundry things made it to the pub for lunch around 2:00... Good lunch - I'm going to miss Rúla Búla. Though we've got Ye Olde King's Head in Santa Monica, which is pretty good too (along with the amusingly named Ye Olde King's Head Shoppe). And usually not with an oven outside.

Even at it's coolest, it's still hot outside, day and night. The hotel pool is very shallow - about 4 1/2 feet at the deepest, and it's got no cover whatsoever. Thus, the water is quite warm. And they've two heated jacuzzis at the ends, see left and right on the photo (thanks, Google Earth).

So as we found out last night, the way to deal with it is to wait until at least 9:30pm and get into the pool for awhile. Then get into the jacuzzi. Then get back into the pool which now feels better. Then get out of the pool entirely and until you dry off the air actually feels... well, not exactly cool but comfortably less warm, anyway. :)

Hillel left for home (poor guy will be.. well by now have been driving into the sunset for awhile), and Vicki and I went back to the room to get something. When we came out we ran into Terry Pratchett, also in the elevator, and had a silly conversation. Then we went off to visit Leslie Fish and pick up a guitar to deliver to Barry Gold. One kitten and her mom were present; I'd have taken a photo of the kit but it promptly hid under the desk. Cuuuute!

I'm now back at the hotel goofing off whilst Vicky has dinner with friends (I'm still pretty full from the pub actually). Then we can all sit down here and watch Soul Music from the boxed set of that and Weird Sisters I got in the dealer's room. Look out, Los Angeles - tomorrow we return. :) I hope to leave early enough to stop and take photos, visit the General Patton memorial museum (and look at the tanks!) and stuff like that there.

Current Mood: tired

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nadwcon

And it's off to Arizona

This weekend being the North American Discworld Convention,

fabula_umbrae and I have driven out to Tempe, Arizona*. The con won't start until the day after tomorrow, giving us a day to recover from the trip and visit friends (in fact she's off in the pub with some as I type) and stuff. We're also waiting an extra day before returning, to recover from the con before driving back to Los Angeles. Then another day to recover, then ConChord starts out in the San Fernando Valley. Let's hear it for scheduling... Leastwise the Kazoo Awards are finished, and waiting in the garage for my return.

Actually the trip (which included some really nice scenery - must get pictures on the way back) didn't need as much recovery from as did our arrival when we discovered that the offramp listed on my triptic had been closed a few minutes before we got there, and that the detour wound around in several directions and then dumped us back on the freeway going the other direction. Sigh... Fortunately a local friend was able to guide us over the phone.

This is a nice hotel room I must say, complete with refrigerator. Plenty of room compared with the ones we usually wind up in at conventions. Not really enough drawers containing actual storage space as opposed to the aforementioned fridge or the room safe, also not enough power sockets for the stuff we brought, but that's not unusual; fortunately for the latter, I also brought a power strip. I will forgive the hotel a lot anyway - they've provided Internet access whence I'm typing these notes.

Phoenix, as usual, is hot. The Valley of the Sun emulates the Surface of same... though considerably moister. Tis muggy out and it's currently 12:21 in the morning. During the day... bleah.....

*Yes, after Iguanacon I did swear I'd never return without full environmental gear... but I have no intention of missing the first North American discworld con, complete with the author as GOH. Besides, the car does have a good air conditioning system, as does the hotel - that's close enough.