AC 2023: Leadup, Departure and Arrival
For the first time since 2009, I found myself having to take the train to get to Anthrocon.
My now-perennial room/ride share Soggy had some stuff going on in his personal life and was thus unable to make the con this year, and since my chances of finding a brand new fellow attendee who would just happen to be passing through north NJ and be willing to give me a lift out to Pittsburgh were just about nil, I resigned myself early on to the Necessity of Amtrak. It also meant I would either have to book my own hotel room (Soggy always took care of those honors for the two of us), or else find room space with someone else. My attempts to score a room of my own at any of my preferred hotels (Westin, Courtyard or Drury) came up empty, in spite of my pre-registering as a Supersponsor to get first crack at bookings ahead of the main crowd; the hotels sold out crazy fast this year, literally faster than I could figure out how to navigate the booking site and enter my reservation information. For a while it was beginning to look as if I might have to skip AC this year after all, since I certainly wasn’t about to make the trip all the way out there without knowing that I had a room waiting for me.
As luck would have it, I had made a connection a year or two ago, through a “Secret of NIMH” Discord fan group of all things, with a fellow by the name of Cedric who had expressed some tangential interest in attending AC himself (he had never been). Did I perhaps egg him on in this regard? Well, I most certainly may have - but since this was well back into 2022, before I realized Soggy would be a definite no-go and certainly long before I knew I’d be shut out of nabbing a hotel reservation of my own, I can honestly declare no ulterior motives to my actions - I simply wished to spread the Good News of AC far and wide, and encourage any acquaintances who were thinking about taking the plunge to go ahead and do so. (By no means the first time I’ve ever done so.) Not only did Cedric commit to pre-registering for the con, but it turned out he succeeded where I had failed, managing to score a 6-night booking (Tues-Sun) at the luxurious Omni William Penn, five blocks away from the convention center. Tables thus turned, I would now be staying in his room instead of the other way around. Worked for me, and for him as well. Over the next few months we hashed out through Discord all the details and developments, keeping each other appraised and trading contact info to shore up our joint accommodation arrangements. AC was looking very much back on for me!
Knowing that AC fell over a quasi-holiday weekend (June 29-July 2nd this year), I did something else I’d never done before: booked my Amtrak tickets several weeks before my trip, when I saw online that the trains were starting to fill up. In the past, I’d always waited to buy my tickets at the Philadelphia 30th Street Station, and never had a problem getting a seat, but that was a decade and a half ago, at a time when AC wasn’t as closely tied to the July 4th weekend as it is now. My tickets thus secured along with my con registration and my hotel accommodations, I was on the fast track to AC 2023!
This year, for the first time, AC announced they’d be holding the Opening Ceremonies on Thursday night instead of Friday morning, thus officially expanding the con to four days. And knowing that taking the train would be an all-day affair for me, I arranged to take off work from Tuesday the 27th through the following Monday, July 3rd. After the crush of last year’s preparations, I’d determined that I would treat myself to an extra day off before my travel day simply so that I wasn’t rushing around the night before my departure in a panic to get all packed and ready. (And that was even before I knew I’d not be catching a lift with Soggy, and would have a far more arduous journey ahead of me this year than any since 2009.) I really needed that extra day, using it to run a few errands (including my banking) as well as cleanup around the house and packing. Since Steve and Ellen and the boys would be taking care of Mom while I was away, I didn’t want to leave a total pigsty for them. Did I get everything as cleaned up as I might have liked? Perhaps not - my bedroom’s still a total disaster area - but I’m sure they appreciated whatever extra dusting and vacuuming and decluttering I managed to slip in. At least I hope they did.
We experienced some very unsettled summer weather here in NJ in the days leading up to my departure, so much so that dozens if not hundreds of flights were cancelled, leaving thousands of stranded travelers clogging the area airports. So glad I was taking the train! Although … but that’s a story for my return trip. As for that Tuesday, Steve helped me out with a lift into town when it appeared my window between storms might not allow me to walk there and back without getting drenched. Turned out I probably could have hoofed it both ways after all, but the use of his wheels saved me some precious time and, more importantly, saved me some extra use of my leg muscles, which would be pushed to their limits over the four days of the con. So, many thanks for that, bro!
Fortunately, the Wednesday morning of my departure saw mostly clear skies with only some lingering dampness on the ground from the previous day’s storms. I’d set my alarm for 5:30am, but was actually out of bed before it went off, eager to get underway. NJ Transit had been reporting some delays for the previous day or two and, figuring such might still be the case on my getaway day, I planned on getting into town early and catching the first train toward Secaucus that came along. Scarfing down two mini apple pies and a glass of chocolate milk, I was out the door by 6:25 after a brief call with Steve and saying farewell to sleepy Mom. By 7:07 I was on the train out of Glen Rock (purchasing my ticket the day before helped with that), and by 8:05 I’d transferred to the Northeast Corridor train speeding my down toward Trenton. I was well on my way!
I was at the Philly station by 10:30, with two hours to kill before my 12:42 - just the way I like it, since I’d always rather be way early than cutting it too close, especially when the glitchy Northeast Corridor is involved. Not having had anything to eat since my 6:00am breakfast, I scouted through the place to see what eateries could be found (remember, I’d last made this trip in 2009, over a decade before Covid, and a lot has changed since then). Really wanted a panini, but the one place that advertised paninis had no actual paninis on their menu when I studied it. Ended up settling for Wendy’s - their standard burger and fries, along with a lemonade (all very tasty), along with two of their sugar cookies for the road (very greasy - they stained my NJT train schedule right through their paper sleeves! - and only mediocre). And to kill the rest of the time, I pulled out my copy of Tempe O’kun’s “Echoes,” the second of his “bunny gunslinger” novels and a volume I’d picked up at AC years before but never read. It filled the time quite nicely.
As I sat in the terminal reading, I started to see some other folks gathering who were clearly headed for the con. None of them seemed to notice the boldly-emblazoned “Anthrocon” logo on my luggage, and they seemed like a younger, hipper crowd all caught up with themselves, so I kept to myself and didn’t intrude on their little public party. And speaking of luggage, now would be a good time to touch upon Amtrak’s policy in this regard; when I ordered my tickets online, I saw in the fine print that each passenger is limited to two checked bags (I was checking none), two carry-on bags, and two personal items. I’d planned on taking two small duffle-style bags along with my padded, multi-compartmented AC carryall, which is designed to hold a laptop, but then realized that all three of those might have exceeded the space limitations for the personal items, thus putting me over my bag limit. While packing at home I swapped out one of the duffles for a smaller over-the-shoulder bag, and found I could fit everything with room to spare, so went with that configuration. (And I did need that “room to spare,” since I always come home from AC with more than I go out with; in fact, I kept the laptop compartment of the carryall empty on the outward trip, reserved for artwork I planned to bring home with me.)
At last it was time to board. One quick trip to the rest room first - and when I emerged mere minutes later I was faced with a long line that hadn’t been there before, and I ended up near the back of it … which meant that by the time I finally got on the train, it was pandemonium, with the narrow aisle clogged by befuddled, flummoxed boarders and their luggage, all looking desperately for empty seats that didn’t seem to exist. No window seats at all, and I ended up asking one woman whether the empty seat next to her was taken, and when she gave the unexpected answer that it was not, I grabbed it as fast as I possibly could. Far more mayhem than I’d ever experienced on Amtrak before, but as said previously, also the closest to a major holiday weekend I’d ever taken it before as well, and it showed. I’m assuming that everyone eventually found a seat for themselves (Amtrak, unlike the airlines, doesn’t overbook) because the train pulled out of the station right on time, and we were on our way!
My seatmate for the trip out was named Emily, and while we traded pleasantries and some scattered bits of conversation here and there (she was returning from only her second-ever trip to NYC, and lived in one of the Pittsburgh suburbs) we mostly left each other alone, she looking out the window or reading on her Kindle (or whatever her particular device was) while I snoozed, read or looked out the windows myself (harder to do when you don’t have a window seat). In my earlier search for a seat, I’d been semi-accosted by a young fellow on his way to his first AC who wanted to talk about the con - a most inopportune moment in that congested free-for-all for seats. Feeling a little guilty at having blown him off at that first passing, I searched him out during the trip. Turned out he and his father were only a few seats away (I’d kind of lost track of such things during my initial scramble for a seat), so I spent a fair amount of time with them during the second half of the journey. His name was Nathaniel, a Connecticut resident currently majoring in art in Florida (showed me some of his portfolio, which was distinctly light on anything of a furry/anthropomorphic nature), and his dad was named Erik. I would run into both of them again at various points during the weekend, and they seemed to be immensely enjoying the experience, so AC wins another set of fans! Nathaniel and I traded numbers as we were disembarking at the Pittsburgh station, so I’ve got his contact info here if I should ever feel like reaching out to him again. Perhaps someday I will.
That wasn’t the only brush with a fellow con-goer I had on the train. At one point I pulled out my copy of Spain Fischer’s “Caterwall,” which I’d brought along for the artist to sign at her table this year (having failed to do so years ago when I first purchased it). A young black guy happened along and spotted me reading it, and stopped to ask me about it. We chatted for a few moments, and he seemed impressed by what he was seeing when I let him have a closer look at the volume, so I encouraged him to seek her out in the Dealer’s Room to see if she had any copies to sell this year. Yay for steering more potential customers the way of my favorite artists!
This year, I was able to stay awake for both trips around the famous Horseshoe Curve, which lies between Altoona and Johnstown in western PA. Of course, not having a window seat on the way out and then having a window seat but on the wrong side of the train for the return trip, my views of this storied landmark were less than stellar. Oh well - at least I’d gotten better better glimpses of it on some of my previous sojourns. And there’s always next year!
We arrived in Pittsburgh around 8:15pm, and it took about 15 minutes to walk to the Omni William Penn - in the company of several other attendees from the train who were staying there as well, and directed me on the fastest way to the hotel (probably saved me a couple of extra blocks walking). These were a mix of vets and newbies who, like Nathaniel, would be attending their first Anthrocon, and we enjoyed some good conversation during our stroll, even if the tangible atmosphere discouraged too much talking. Yes, that dreaded Canadian Wildfire Smoke had enveloped our fair city of Pittsburgh, and would not clear out until sometime on Friday, when blue skies would finally reappear. Not yet masked up as I would be for much of the weekend, I must have whuffed in a fair amount of that smog during my hotel-bound constitutional, although in all honesty it didn’t really bother me that much.
Our route took us to the rear entrance of the Omni, where I’d never been before. Finding my way to the rear elevator banks (yes, they have two separate banks at the Omni - such elegance!), I pulled out my phone and texted Cedric that there would be a knock at his door in the next five minutes. (I’d gotten his hotel room from him before leaving NJ, since he’d arrived in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.) I then stepped into the elevator and realized I wasn’t going anywhere without a room key card; as with the Drury last year, the Omni’s elevators wouldn’t work without one, to ensure that only guests of the hotel would be able to use them. So, I texted Cedric back to inform him he’d have to come down to the lobby after all. Which he did, and thus did we finally meet in person. A moment! It kind of took me back to my very first AC, when I randomly wandered around the Westin looking for my room host “Tobias” without any idea what he looked like. Anyway, he gave me my own room card, which I guarded with my life for the rest of the con, and we briefly retired to our room (1458) so I could deposit my luggage and free myself of the burdens I’d borne since NJ. Cedric had held off getting any dinner for himself at my prior semi-suggestion, so we were both hungry and ready for some grub. And then …
But I think I’ve covered more than enough in this post already, and I daresay my weekend’s culinary experiences warrant an entry all their own. So stay tuned for mouth-watering goodness!