OryCon 33 trip report aka weekend update

K. and I flew up to Portland, Or. this past weekend to help out promoting LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 WorldCon.  We had a decent time, but did not see much of the convention.

Friday morning we got up at 4:40 a.m. and made it to the airport around 5:40 a.m.  The line for the invasion of privacy was the longest I've ever seen it at Hobby but, once the 6 a.m. shift came on, the line moved fairly well.  I actually did not get physically frisked this time.  I do usually attract the attention of the screeners for some reason.

We made our flight with plenty of time, made our connection in Denver and landed in Portland without issue.  We caught the Redline Max into town and got off at the DoubleTree.  After checking, we wandered around to find the LSC3 table and found Kimm already prepping the table for the weekend.  So, K. and I got in line for our badges.

Registration was a bit of a mess.  K. bought an at-the-door membership and it took her about an hour to get through the line.  There were 9 people in the line ahead of her.  It also appeared they had not printed out all of the pre-registered badges so the "troubleshooting" line was quite long.  thank goodness my badge had been printed.  It only took me a couple of minutes to get my badge.

Kimm recommended we go get something to eat, so we wandered over to the nearby mall and ate at the "diner" in the food court.  The food was ok.

Returning from lunch, we settled in to the table and tried to get folks to buy memberships for LSC3.

We shut the table down and went to eat int he hotel restaurant (K., myself, Kimm and Grant).  I was underwhelmed by the Fettucine Bolognese.

Since we weren't hosting a party Friday night, we went on to bed.

Up early Saturday (still on Houston time) we wandered downtown and ate at Milo's Central Cafe.  Very good food.  From there we wandered around and found our way to VooDoo Donuts Too around 12th and Davis.  On the way, we passed Franz's Bread company.  The smell was just fantastic.

Back to the hotel to sit at the table to accost more passersby.  K. and I took the opportunity provided by the con to donate blood.  I was unhappy with all of the information I had to give them and so probably won't be donating again.

We met up with my niece Betsy and her husband Zach and they took us around town for a driving tour and for lunch at Nicholas', a Lebanese/Mediterranean restaurant.  It was a wonderful meal and a great time.

Back to the table and no success.

Dinner was unnecessary Saturday night, so we crashed early.

Up at Houston hours on Sunday and off to the Village Inn for breakfast.  Back to the hotel to pack and catch the Redline for the airport.  The last flight for Houston left a little after noon, so we could not stick around the con.

Back home around 9:30 p.m. after an overbooked Denver to Houston leg.

OryCon pros: Good art in the art show, a fabulous array of Hall Costumes

OryCon cons: registration snafus, no list of programming participants on the web site, too much unused space in the art show, requiring folks who want to wander through the art show and dealers' room to by a full day membership.