The Pros of the Con.

I'm caught up, so there's no more excuses. Time for the con recap.

There was yummy food. June's Booyah and fluff. High maintenance burgers and the basket of fried stuff. Custard!

There was drinking. Cocoa at the sleigh ride. Beer at the brewery. Boones Farm at the Bad Bar.

There were places to see. Door County. Lambeau. The New Zoo. The train museaum.

Really, though, it's all about the people. People we read, people we're gonna start reading because they are too cool. People we've met and people we're just meeting for the first time. And I must say this was a pretty darn fine group of people.

Where to start? How about at the airport. I can't begin to express how happy I was to see Mary waiting even though my flight was delayed. We shared a cab and several laughs to the Inn.

The bus to the sleigh ride was chock full of laughter and The Doctor. Even my seatmate Kari relented and had a drink. The "tour" provided by Mo was entertaining if not informative.

The sleigh ride was cold but fun. There was a friendly dog and the hot cowboy. There were no proposals, but there was a very fine bonfire. After the sleighride it was all about Mare sharing her studies and teaching Karen the ways of the fluff. The addition of the pretzel crack is, after all, essential.

I can not tell a lie. I skipped the Karaoke. You may razz me as desired, but I enjoyed the jacuzzi instead.

Breakfast was of the fabulous revolving variety. Our table for four started with Betty and Ed and myself. Over the course of the morning we cycled through Jake, Allison and Mary again. Between my long stay in the dining room and a quick trip through the swag, I'd managed to while away the entire morning until it was burger time. Last year I'd missed the burger gathering, so this year I appointed several con-buddies with the admonishment that they not leave me behind!

I ended up in the hospitable if somewhat cramped back seat of Rachel's vehicle with Mary and the amazing Amalia riding shotgun. We chatted of so many things including the sister's memories of the area and Rachel's very bad, horrible, not so good week. The high maintenance hamburgers were quite and experience. First there were the baskets of fried things, then the burgers served on trays eaten from napkins. It was good, but probably dangerous to those who imbibed a bit the previous evening. Amalia did the math and amazingly the huge group of us paid one tab and everyone left smiling - I've had tougher times with tables of two.

After the meal there was some conversation and plotting and it was decided there would be Cheese! Off we went to the cheesse store. A bit of shuffling (Amalia swapped for Ian) and a two car caravan headed north. I actually didn't end up with much from the cheese store as I realized that storage would be a challenge. Afterward, however, we decided that the dairy theme should go on as Ian led us to the custard. Thus was dairycon born (not for the lactose intolerant). Intrepid travelers that we were, not only did we wing it but we found it with no problem at all.

Returning to the Inn we found The Jason three quarters asleep in the swag room. After a quick discussion I sent him to my room to nap and sat in the swag room instead. Turned out to be an excellent choice as I got all the just passing through conversations, including a nice long one with Allison. But low and behold once we packed up the swag room, I was late for the dinner gather. I zipped upstairs and changed - amazing how low drag the wardrobe is when you run out of time to think about it.

Dinner was at the Brewery. A private room with around 30 of us that stunned me by still managing to serve everyone at nearly the same time. We talked about everything from Lissa's trip diasters to Mare's identification with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". There were prizes from the Karaoke sticker game and the clicking of many cameras.

Then it was time for the Bad Bar. I was amused to see the postcard I sent last year front and center on the bar. The bar has changed a bit. Things were on the whole more subdued. There was still glow sticks and silliness and dancing in the window, but the music would change from a great tune to dance to into something inexplicable and everyone would drift away. We made the party, however. I had an excellent talk with Weet's Mo early on. Scotty really started the festivities in the sticker booth! Jake was the master of mischief pulling people to the ledge, unzipping skirts and making friends with the locals. Jessie was her usual bundle of party and Amalia was every boys dream. I swear I have never seen anyone who moved so sinuously. The Boone's farm (prizes from the sticker game) made the rounds again and Lisa Marie enjoyed it enough to get another bottle. I had an amusing moment when Mike and I were admiring the same guys across the bar. There was dancing and silliness and lots of fun.

We didn't close the joint down this year but that was because we slipped out for pancakes and other breakfast delicacies. By the time I got back to the inn and ready for bed it was 3 am. It didn't feel that late, though, because who wants it to end?

Breakfast was the MD crew, Jess & Thumper, Mary and I. Jess and Thumper had an early flight. I think the rest of us were just suffering from the different time zone. So things started winding down. There were a few more good byes, packing up and eventually heading to the airport.

I didn't get much time with the Planes, Trains and Automobiles crowd, and I barely said boo to our hostess Weet. I also sure despite an entry chock full of linky squee that I've forgotten someone or something that should have been included. I blame the booze.

There are pictures on Flickr. I just forgot to figure out the link. When I get it, I'll put it here. Photos Here!