SF Recap
Long weekend, but Conquest SF was well-organized, well-attended and everyone involved was extremely hospitable. We sold some stuff, sat on some panels, Kate played games in the kids room, made friends with another girl, was very tolerant of our need to do boring adult things.
We took BART into the city one night to have dinner with Book of the Righteous author Aaron Loeb and his lovely wife Kathy and Blue Rose contributor Jeremy Crawford. We got a tour of Aaron's day job at Planet Moon Studios, and briefly met Book of the Righteous artist Ken Capelli, who also works there.
On the other hand, our friend Randy was at the con and he's a docent at the San Francisco Zoo. When he heard about Kate becoming a Zookid, he was really interested and took us to the zoo on Sunday afternoon and gave us a total back-stage/guided tour, loading Kate up with lots of information about the SF zoo programs, introducing her by name to all the animals, telling hilarious stories about their personalities, giving her access to "employee only" areas and introducing her to other employees and teens in the program. It was a VERY cool experience for her. Sadly, we forgot her found peacock feathers in the hotel room when we checked out.
The flight back was trouble-free and recovered our one checked bag promptly and without issue. We were home by cab by 9:30. Unfortunately, as we were getting out of the cab (which was parked angled into the street slightly) a minivan with a family and small children inside tried to squeeze past the cab... the van collided with Chris's door (I was already in the house, turning off the alarm) and after half an hour the cops finally showed up to make a report. Chris reflexively said, "Oh, I'm sorry!" as he got out of the car, and the bitchy woman in the van started in. "It's going to take a lot more than sorry..." Great. Hopefully between the cab's insurance and the van-family's insurance no one is going to try to pin the repairs on us!
We took BART into the city one night to have dinner with Book of the Righteous author Aaron Loeb and his lovely wife Kathy and Blue Rose contributor Jeremy Crawford. We got a tour of Aaron's day job at Planet Moon Studios, and briefly met Book of the Righteous artist Ken Capelli, who also works there.
On the other hand, our friend Randy was at the con and he's a docent at the San Francisco Zoo. When he heard about Kate becoming a Zookid, he was really interested and took us to the zoo on Sunday afternoon and gave us a total back-stage/guided tour, loading Kate up with lots of information about the SF zoo programs, introducing her by name to all the animals, telling hilarious stories about their personalities, giving her access to "employee only" areas and introducing her to other employees and teens in the program. It was a VERY cool experience for her. Sadly, we forgot her found peacock feathers in the hotel room when we checked out.
The flight back was trouble-free and recovered our one checked bag promptly and without issue. We were home by cab by 9:30. Unfortunately, as we were getting out of the cab (which was parked angled into the street slightly) a minivan with a family and small children inside tried to squeeze past the cab... the van collided with Chris's door (I was already in the house, turning off the alarm) and after half an hour the cops finally showed up to make a report. Chris reflexively said, "Oh, I'm sorry!" as he got out of the car, and the bitchy woman in the van started in. "It's going to take a lot more than sorry..." Great. Hopefully between the cab's insurance and the van-family's insurance no one is going to try to pin the repairs on us!
I am so glad the SF cons are treating you so well! Being in Phoenix AZ. now I so miss the bay area cons and running games!
Bummer about the van, glad all is well and you all made it home safe and sound.
John