Vacation Journal Part 1 of...
Getting to Westercon
Your intrepid public land transit fans started our journey at the Davis Amtrak station. There we caught the Amtrak bus to Stockton. As frequent riders on Yolobus I Was impressed with the quality and spaciousness of the seats. Kosh and Groblek sat together, and Groblek read quite a bit to Kosh. I had a seat to myself. Service was prompt and friendly, and we made it to Stockton with plenty of time to make our connection.
We switched in Stockton to the San Joaquin Train to Bakersfield. I got Kosh for this stretch, and it went well. The Bakersfield bus was more crowded, but we managed to get a table which we shared with a sweet lady who talked aboUt her grandson and fell asleep. Kosh discovered that he quite enjoyed Go Fish, but started to get antsy here. At the stop in Stockton he got a chance to run around, but in Bakersfield we just had time to switch to the bus, so that was a lot of sitting.
We had some time in LA Metro before our last stretch of Amtrak. Kosh got to run a bit, and Groblek picked up dinner. I was impressed by the massive complex for trains and busses. This train for San Diego left around 5:30 so it was a busy commuter, and Kosh had been sitting in one form or another for most of the day. We managed to get seats that faced each-other, and shared with a nice man who seemed not to mind too much being across from Kosh. Just before Carlsbad, after the guy sitting with us got off, and near the end of our trip Kosh hit full tantrum. I took him downstairs because frequently a change in scenery helps break him out of it. This coincided with an extended stop in Carlsbad while apparently a violent woman was removed from the train. Managed to help Kosh regain control in time for us to head up and help Groblek get all our baggage off the train. This got us really close to our final destination. We hopped, in as much as one hops witH baggage, onto the local trolley system, like light rail only cleaner, for 2 stops, and a brief although brisk walk got us to the Town and Country where we were staying for Westercon. As soon as staff there knew we were there they jumped to get us on a golf cart and to our room. Travel time was about 13 hours, and included some lovely views. There is something about traveling by train that is just more real than plane. I fly down to LA about once a year for work, but it doesn't have nearly the same feeling of away.
Con and Facility
Westercon is a bit less lively than Baycon. It was something we were underwhelmed by a couple years ago when it was in Sacramento, but for this one in San Diego we've made friends with a decent chunk of the community, and Seanan McGuire, Vixy and Tony, and Steven Brust were guests, and we were excited about all of those.
I think because it was combined with conChord and another con that I'm forgetting the name of it had some neat stuff going on. There was dancing all three nights, although we actually only made Thursday night English Country Dancing. Regency dancing was up against the major concerts we were interested in, and Swing dancing took a miss for swimming because Kosh had put up with being dragged around panels all day and really wanted to get his swim on.
On swimming Kosh discovered at Spring Games West that he could get himself around the pool with a kickboard, at con he discovered the abilitY to "swim" propel himself in water without flotation devices. It is sort of a doggie paddle with face in the water. He is still working on getting his head to breath without prompting and before he gets a mouth full of water, but it was exciting, and he wanted to spend a lot of time in the pool.
He also enjoyed spending a good deal of time in children's programming. Alyson was amazing and kept Kosh busy with all kinds of crafts and play, even though there were only 2 families participating in children's programming, us and a brother and sister in the adolescent age range. T the younger boy, and A the older girl excitedly adopted Kosh, which he generally enjoyed, and they were both okay with him needing space when he was cranky or shy.
We quite enjoyed several panels. I went to one on robots taking away labor that ranged further than I expected, but was interesting. We also enjoyed sci/fi and Shakespeare, Disneyfication of everything, book cover design, and others. We went to art and tech of Big Hero 6 because we thought Kosh would enjoy it, and it was quite interesting mostly about the tech of animating, and Kosh was really attentive until the presenter stopped talking about characters, and started talking about the buildings. This was apparently what he'd worked on, and it was interesting, but it completely lost Kosh, and since we were there for Kosh we slipped out at that point.
The concert was amazing fun! Steven Brust opened up with interesting and fun music, and then it was time for Vixy and Tony's concert! Vixy and Tony are the reason we discovered filk. Some many years ago, pre-Kosh, Vixy and Tony contributed music to a fundraising thing to help a musician we like, and we picked it up, and we loved it, because their music is amazing! And because they were cool enough to contribute to help someone. Then we heard that they were going to be preforming in the bay area. We were excited, we had no idea what Consonance was, but it sounded like fun, so we took the weekend and went, and were hooked. The music was like finding our people with more music! We've been to Consonance every year since (except 2011 when Kosh was born a week before the con). They're still absolutely amazing, and we danced through the whole thing! Then there was Seanan's concert which was lovely. It was late, and Kosh had spent a lot of time dancing and swimming, so he was nearly out in my lap when Seanan, Vixy, and Tony started up My Story Is Not Done. This is my favorite song!! I have trouble not getting up and dancing to it when it is in my earbuds, and I'm in my cubicle. So, i got up holding Kosh to dance, and in the middle of this concert with loud driving music he fell asleep on my chest while i was dancing. I really enjoyed that, although my back was less pleased. There is a reason he doesn't get to do this as a regular thing anymore, but it was very sweet.
The facility was lovely! It was at the Town and Country resort and convention center. That meant that it was more spread out than most cons we've been to. The service was excellent, the on site food was also really great, and the site was walking distance to a mall which provided even more variety in food, and options. The service is especially notable in that i forgot my plantar fasciitis boot in the room, and they are shipping it home it should get there shortly after we do. They would have sent it faster, but I encouraged them to do ground shipping.
It was good seeing Seanan, and terrifying her. Sometimes turnabout is fair. In this case it was also sweet, because she was genuinely concerned for Kosh. He managed to lose Puppy (the Puppy who he claims he cannot sleep without) in the afternoon on the last day of con. So after checking all the places we could think of including two different lost and founds Groblek and I split forces. The closing ceremony included talk back, so i hit that to see if anyone had found Puppy while Groblek did a second retracing of steps. So I found a point to insert the question of had anyone found a stuffed dog, Seanan turned to me with terror on her face "you lost Puppy!" Just as Groblek and Kosh with Puppy under his arm walked in.
Also if any of you can help Seanan get her Pokemon on you absolutely should..I am not investing in a DS to do this...yet...
We aren't sure if we'll make next year Portland, but we'll definitely be at Reno year after next.
Legoland!!!
I have 2 negative things to say about things at Legoland.
1) breakfast options are minimal, get breakfast first theres a great diner called Rubys about a block away.
2) the sky cruiser. The cars look really cool, and it is a high track, so everyone sees it, and it looks like you pedal it around. So it looks really cool, which makes a ridiculous number of people want to try. In fairness the attendant at the front of the line made it clear that it was an exceptionally long wait, and it was all those things that made it attractive, but it was not worth the 90 minutes in line much less the 120 minutes we were warned about. They also had a lego pit which made waiting much more pleasant for Kosh, and thus for us.
Otherwise it was FANTASTIC!
This is a park clearly designed for the under 10 crowd, and their parents! There were two rides in the entire park that Kosh couldn't go on because of hight. He just hits 40", so our experience might have been quite different last month, although in most cases he still could have rode with a parent.
Kosh enjoyed the train ride in the Duplo playground, which was a bunch of duplo looking play structures with duplos to build with. He enjoyed the ride, and the running around the play yard, and the building. For day one he listed the train as his favorite ride. I suspect this is because on his third or fourth time through he got to be in the engine.
The merry go round had a fun learning to ride thing going on where we sped up from trot to canter to gallop. Also quite fun.
My Office Manager who we'll call Jeeves suggested the rescue ride and it was a great cooperative family activity. We pumped to race our fire engine to the fire, while Kosh drove, and then he aimed the hose while we pushed buttons to keep up water pressure, and then pump and drive back to the station.
Also there are building spots all over where you can stop and build. Kosh particularly enjoyed building a boat and sending it down a river in the water park, and I nearly just left the boys playing in the Hero building area.
I have more to write, but I don't know when if I'll get to it.
Your intrepid public land transit fans started our journey at the Davis Amtrak station. There we caught the Amtrak bus to Stockton. As frequent riders on Yolobus I Was impressed with the quality and spaciousness of the seats. Kosh and Groblek sat together, and Groblek read quite a bit to Kosh. I had a seat to myself. Service was prompt and friendly, and we made it to Stockton with plenty of time to make our connection.
We switched in Stockton to the San Joaquin Train to Bakersfield. I got Kosh for this stretch, and it went well. The Bakersfield bus was more crowded, but we managed to get a table which we shared with a sweet lady who talked aboUt her grandson and fell asleep. Kosh discovered that he quite enjoyed Go Fish, but started to get antsy here. At the stop in Stockton he got a chance to run around, but in Bakersfield we just had time to switch to the bus, so that was a lot of sitting.
We had some time in LA Metro before our last stretch of Amtrak. Kosh got to run a bit, and Groblek picked up dinner. I was impressed by the massive complex for trains and busses. This train for San Diego left around 5:30 so it was a busy commuter, and Kosh had been sitting in one form or another for most of the day. We managed to get seats that faced each-other, and shared with a nice man who seemed not to mind too much being across from Kosh. Just before Carlsbad, after the guy sitting with us got off, and near the end of our trip Kosh hit full tantrum. I took him downstairs because frequently a change in scenery helps break him out of it. This coincided with an extended stop in Carlsbad while apparently a violent woman was removed from the train. Managed to help Kosh regain control in time for us to head up and help Groblek get all our baggage off the train. This got us really close to our final destination. We hopped, in as much as one hops witH baggage, onto the local trolley system, like light rail only cleaner, for 2 stops, and a brief although brisk walk got us to the Town and Country where we were staying for Westercon. As soon as staff there knew we were there they jumped to get us on a golf cart and to our room. Travel time was about 13 hours, and included some lovely views. There is something about traveling by train that is just more real than plane. I fly down to LA about once a year for work, but it doesn't have nearly the same feeling of away.
Con and Facility
Westercon is a bit less lively than Baycon. It was something we were underwhelmed by a couple years ago when it was in Sacramento, but for this one in San Diego we've made friends with a decent chunk of the community, and Seanan McGuire, Vixy and Tony, and Steven Brust were guests, and we were excited about all of those.
I think because it was combined with conChord and another con that I'm forgetting the name of it had some neat stuff going on. There was dancing all three nights, although we actually only made Thursday night English Country Dancing. Regency dancing was up against the major concerts we were interested in, and Swing dancing took a miss for swimming because Kosh had put up with being dragged around panels all day and really wanted to get his swim on.
On swimming Kosh discovered at Spring Games West that he could get himself around the pool with a kickboard, at con he discovered the abilitY to "swim" propel himself in water without flotation devices. It is sort of a doggie paddle with face in the water. He is still working on getting his head to breath without prompting and before he gets a mouth full of water, but it was exciting, and he wanted to spend a lot of time in the pool.
He also enjoyed spending a good deal of time in children's programming. Alyson was amazing and kept Kosh busy with all kinds of crafts and play, even though there were only 2 families participating in children's programming, us and a brother and sister in the adolescent age range. T the younger boy, and A the older girl excitedly adopted Kosh, which he generally enjoyed, and they were both okay with him needing space when he was cranky or shy.
We quite enjoyed several panels. I went to one on robots taking away labor that ranged further than I expected, but was interesting. We also enjoyed sci/fi and Shakespeare, Disneyfication of everything, book cover design, and others. We went to art and tech of Big Hero 6 because we thought Kosh would enjoy it, and it was quite interesting mostly about the tech of animating, and Kosh was really attentive until the presenter stopped talking about characters, and started talking about the buildings. This was apparently what he'd worked on, and it was interesting, but it completely lost Kosh, and since we were there for Kosh we slipped out at that point.
The concert was amazing fun! Steven Brust opened up with interesting and fun music, and then it was time for Vixy and Tony's concert! Vixy and Tony are the reason we discovered filk. Some many years ago, pre-Kosh, Vixy and Tony contributed music to a fundraising thing to help a musician we like, and we picked it up, and we loved it, because their music is amazing! And because they were cool enough to contribute to help someone. Then we heard that they were going to be preforming in the bay area. We were excited, we had no idea what Consonance was, but it sounded like fun, so we took the weekend and went, and were hooked. The music was like finding our people with more music! We've been to Consonance every year since (except 2011 when Kosh was born a week before the con). They're still absolutely amazing, and we danced through the whole thing! Then there was Seanan's concert which was lovely. It was late, and Kosh had spent a lot of time dancing and swimming, so he was nearly out in my lap when Seanan, Vixy, and Tony started up My Story Is Not Done. This is my favorite song!! I have trouble not getting up and dancing to it when it is in my earbuds, and I'm in my cubicle. So, i got up holding Kosh to dance, and in the middle of this concert with loud driving music he fell asleep on my chest while i was dancing. I really enjoyed that, although my back was less pleased. There is a reason he doesn't get to do this as a regular thing anymore, but it was very sweet.
The facility was lovely! It was at the Town and Country resort and convention center. That meant that it was more spread out than most cons we've been to. The service was excellent, the on site food was also really great, and the site was walking distance to a mall which provided even more variety in food, and options. The service is especially notable in that i forgot my plantar fasciitis boot in the room, and they are shipping it home it should get there shortly after we do. They would have sent it faster, but I encouraged them to do ground shipping.
It was good seeing Seanan, and terrifying her. Sometimes turnabout is fair. In this case it was also sweet, because she was genuinely concerned for Kosh. He managed to lose Puppy (the Puppy who he claims he cannot sleep without) in the afternoon on the last day of con. So after checking all the places we could think of including two different lost and founds Groblek and I split forces. The closing ceremony included talk back, so i hit that to see if anyone had found Puppy while Groblek did a second retracing of steps. So I found a point to insert the question of had anyone found a stuffed dog, Seanan turned to me with terror on her face "you lost Puppy!" Just as Groblek and Kosh with Puppy under his arm walked in.
Also if any of you can help Seanan get her Pokemon on you absolutely should..I am not investing in a DS to do this...yet...
We aren't sure if we'll make next year Portland, but we'll definitely be at Reno year after next.
Legoland!!!
I have 2 negative things to say about things at Legoland.
1) breakfast options are minimal, get breakfast first theres a great diner called Rubys about a block away.
2) the sky cruiser. The cars look really cool, and it is a high track, so everyone sees it, and it looks like you pedal it around. So it looks really cool, which makes a ridiculous number of people want to try. In fairness the attendant at the front of the line made it clear that it was an exceptionally long wait, and it was all those things that made it attractive, but it was not worth the 90 minutes in line much less the 120 minutes we were warned about. They also had a lego pit which made waiting much more pleasant for Kosh, and thus for us.
Otherwise it was FANTASTIC!
This is a park clearly designed for the under 10 crowd, and their parents! There were two rides in the entire park that Kosh couldn't go on because of hight. He just hits 40", so our experience might have been quite different last month, although in most cases he still could have rode with a parent.
Kosh enjoyed the train ride in the Duplo playground, which was a bunch of duplo looking play structures with duplos to build with. He enjoyed the ride, and the running around the play yard, and the building. For day one he listed the train as his favorite ride. I suspect this is because on his third or fourth time through he got to be in the engine.
The merry go round had a fun learning to ride thing going on where we sped up from trot to canter to gallop. Also quite fun.
My Office Manager who we'll call Jeeves suggested the rescue ride and it was a great cooperative family activity. We pumped to race our fire engine to the fire, while Kosh drove, and then he aimed the hose while we pushed buttons to keep up water pressure, and then pump and drive back to the station.
Also there are building spots all over where you can stop and build. Kosh particularly enjoyed building a boat and sending it down a river in the water park, and I nearly just left the boys playing in the Hero building area.
I have more to write, but I don't know when if I'll get to it.