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Atlanta/Gaylaxicon Trip
May. 18th, 2011 11:22 pmJoe and I spent last weekend in Atlanta for Gaylaxicon 2011. This is the first con that I've traveled for since... hmm... I think since WorldCon 2009. We didn't travel to Australia for WorldCon 2010, and Gaylaxicon 2010 in Montreal was cancelled. I guess we were long over to for convention traveling, and for seeing so many of our con friends.
The convention itself was actually very nice. I didn't know what to expect. Gaylaxicon this year was actually a beefed up OutlantaCon, which is an Atlanta GLBT science fiction and gaming convention that's being going on for a few years now. I really liked the mix of local people who are used to OutlantaCon and the national folks who travel every time there's a Gaylaxicon.
We hosted a party in the con suite Saturday night to promote Gaylaxicon 2012, which we're hosting here in Minneapolis. We collected about 12 registration over the weekend. That may appear a bit low, but I consider that several of the Gaylaxicon regular attendees that would typically have pre-registered at the party had already pre-registered at the end of 2010 we we announced our special early bird rate.
As usual we had a couple of large fan dinners. Friday night eight of us walked over to a nearby pizza place in a strip mall. The pizza was good and the guys behind the counter gave fun attitude. Since the place was tiny we took over two of the three tables that were outside. On Sunday night, after the convention had closed, 18 of us drove over to a nearby Thai restaurant. I would have prefered Indian, but it turns out that Thai is the universal foreign food when it comes to Gaylaxicon fans. We can all find something on the menu to like.
Late Monday morning our Atlanta friend Dennis picked us up at the hotel and drove us around Atlanta. Since he's knows I'm a bit of a gadget lover, he thought the best place to take me would be to a Fry's Electronics store. I wasn't as impressed as he hoped I would be, but it was kind of nice to poke around there for a while. I was more interested in seeing the sites of Atlanta. From Fry's we grabbed a quick lunch, and then he drove us through the "Beverly Hills" of Atlanta, and then to several of the gay shops.
We finally went back to his house and met up with his partner Richard. We know Dennis and Richard from our cruises, so we talked about other cruises they've been on, and about our upcoming European cruise. After a very short nap for me, we went out to a local diner that they love. Apparently they are regulars here because everyone working there knew their names. The food a good southern cooking style, and I was full about three bites into my entree. The waiter heard we were from the north, so he brought out several small sample dishes so we could taste a variety of southern food. I tried a little of every thing, but even now I can't look at food without feeling a little ill.
Our flight on Monday was scheduled for 8:20pm. At 7:30pm we finally bolted from the restaurant and headed for the ATL. I was getting nervous, but thankfully security was easy, all though I did have to go through my first enhanced screening. I just went through the scanner because I didn't have time to be patted down. We walked briskly, because I was too full to run, for our gate only to discover that they moved the plane to a different concourse. While we were walking briskly I just kept thinking that my full belly was starting to feel better because of the extra exercise.
We made it on the plane and had a pretty good flight home.
The convention itself was actually very nice. I didn't know what to expect. Gaylaxicon this year was actually a beefed up OutlantaCon, which is an Atlanta GLBT science fiction and gaming convention that's being going on for a few years now. I really liked the mix of local people who are used to OutlantaCon and the national folks who travel every time there's a Gaylaxicon.
We hosted a party in the con suite Saturday night to promote Gaylaxicon 2012, which we're hosting here in Minneapolis. We collected about 12 registration over the weekend. That may appear a bit low, but I consider that several of the Gaylaxicon regular attendees that would typically have pre-registered at the party had already pre-registered at the end of 2010 we we announced our special early bird rate.
As usual we had a couple of large fan dinners. Friday night eight of us walked over to a nearby pizza place in a strip mall. The pizza was good and the guys behind the counter gave fun attitude. Since the place was tiny we took over two of the three tables that were outside. On Sunday night, after the convention had closed, 18 of us drove over to a nearby Thai restaurant. I would have prefered Indian, but it turns out that Thai is the universal foreign food when it comes to Gaylaxicon fans. We can all find something on the menu to like.
Late Monday morning our Atlanta friend Dennis picked us up at the hotel and drove us around Atlanta. Since he's knows I'm a bit of a gadget lover, he thought the best place to take me would be to a Fry's Electronics store. I wasn't as impressed as he hoped I would be, but it was kind of nice to poke around there for a while. I was more interested in seeing the sites of Atlanta. From Fry's we grabbed a quick lunch, and then he drove us through the "Beverly Hills" of Atlanta, and then to several of the gay shops.
We finally went back to his house and met up with his partner Richard. We know Dennis and Richard from our cruises, so we talked about other cruises they've been on, and about our upcoming European cruise. After a very short nap for me, we went out to a local diner that they love. Apparently they are regulars here because everyone working there knew their names. The food a good southern cooking style, and I was full about three bites into my entree. The waiter heard we were from the north, so he brought out several small sample dishes so we could taste a variety of southern food. I tried a little of every thing, but even now I can't look at food without feeling a little ill.
Our flight on Monday was scheduled for 8:20pm. At 7:30pm we finally bolted from the restaurant and headed for the ATL. I was getting nervous, but thankfully security was easy, all though I did have to go through my first enhanced screening. I just went through the scanner because I didn't have time to be patted down. We walked briskly, because I was too full to run, for our gate only to discover that they moved the plane to a different concourse. While we were walking briskly I just kept thinking that my full belly was starting to feel better because of the extra exercise.
We made it on the plane and had a pretty good flight home.
