We set off last Thursday after boy got home from school.  We actually made it out of town by 4, which I thought was quite a feat since I was running around like the proverbial headless chicken all day.  We went down to Blackfoot and spent the night at a Best Western, which was clean and friendly, and didn't cost my first born child.

Next day we got a reasonably good start.  Stopped to do some geocaches on the way down to Salt Lake City.  Stopped at Sizzler to eat salad (hard to find salad food in Montana), and then down to the con.  Jani was my contact person and I called her.  She was picking up the artist guest of honor at the time and so we went and got checked in.  Can I just say that I've never been in such a friendly considerate hotel?  With a single exception of one waiter on Saturday night who was determined to be dour, everyone was marvelous.  And add to that a terrific con staff who were tremendously thoughtful, helpful and outgoing, and really, it was just a great feeling to be there.

We got checked in, let the kids bounce on the beds (like we could stop them) and hooked up with Jani who gave me a goody basket and welcomed us (and there was cool stuff in the basket, all from the SAlt Lake Area, including Saltwater taffy and truffles).  Then it was downstairs to the con to look around, get my table set up and so on.  Roc had given me 50 sampler copies (it's a small book with the first chapters of six or seven upcoming titles, including The Cipher).  I put those out and some postcards and magnets, and then arranged with one of the dealers to sell books for me.  He was terrific and gave me a special display, which was again, all over the place cool.

The only thing I had to do that night was go to the banquet.  We were seated, one 'celebrity' at each table (yeah, don't laugh, I was a momentary celebrity).  Then the guests sat and then we all stood and went and took pictures.  We celebrities went into a room and each table could take a picture with everyone, which they later brought around to have signed.  I thought it was a very cool souvenir.  And then back to eat.  Craig R. Nelson volunteered as something of an MC and he's hugely amusing and I was entertained. 

The food was terrific.  It was a buffet style, but though I've been to buffets where the food is all but inedible, this stuff was amazingly fresh and yummy.  There were a variety of salads, fish, chicken and roast beast, and many other things, including a chocolatey cheese cake.  I had a lovely conversation with the people at my table, and then retreated to bed.  Okay, not so much bed as getting climbed on by children and then wrassling them back into bed, but you get it.

Next day, we had the breakfast buffet (which had raspberries on the fruit bar and fresh whipped cream too) and then I began panelling while the rest of the fam went geocaching.  I shared panels with Paul Genesse (with a new book out this spring called The Golden Cord), Joselle Vanderhooft (writer of poetry and fiction), Karen Webb (also a writer, Howard Tayler (creator of the Schlock Mercenary) Julie Frost (short story writer and I know she's reading and can't remember the lj addy, so spill!).  We were on several panels that day, talking writing, world building and publishing.  And in the middle of the day I did a question and answer thing on the main stage, and lucky for me, several people actually came and asked questions, so it was successful.

Dinner that night with Paul, Patrick and Liz and my family, wherein which the dour waiter made his appearance.  But the food was good and the kids didn't tear things apart too much.  They weren't napping at all and going to be late and getting up early isn't conducive to good behavior.  Then there was a final panel post dinner and I retreated to help a frazzled husband soap up the kids and tuck them into bed (you know, so they couldn't move to get out).

The next day I had a reading at 9 a.m.  And wow--good attendance (this was post breakfast buffet in which there were now blackberries instead of raspberries on the fruit bar.  Yes, I have fruit issues, why?)  Then more panels, frantic packing to get out of the room on time, frantic finishing up of signings, goodbyes and etc, and then on the road again.

The pass into Montana was about 4 or 5 inches deep in this hail/slush/snow mix and there were spinouts and cars in ditches everywhere.  Cop lights twinkled for miles.  We were fine and made it home in time to get the kids in bed and sprawl lifelessly on the couch before crawling into bed.

The con itself had a really nice variety of sessions and offerings--being partly writing, partly gaming and partly media focused.  The hotel setup was perfect, being an open space with the sessions off the sides and the gamers up on another floor--but they had windows to look out of because two of the walls were glass--so it was clear where the room was.  Only one complaint--no diet coke in the green room.  Ah well, I got my daily dose other ways.  I've never been so close to seeing the actual running of a con before and thought the organizers were magnificent.  Wow.  And everybody was so welcoming.

Fun moments:  When my daughter who has a princess fetish saw the SCA queen before the masquerade and her jaw dropped and she breathlessly whispered princessssss . . . . while tugging on my pants.  When I nearly made Howard Tayler snort pepsi through his nose by referring to something a student wrote in a story some years back  . . . "he unfurled his purple majesty."  When my son stood for an hour at a table letting them teach him a game.  When my daughter accused a busboy of stealing plates from our table and she kept pointing him out and making the accusation every time he went by. 

All in all, it was tremendous fun.  I made some more friends, firmed up old acquaintances, and I hope to go back next year.