Friday:
Friday morning I got up and got ready to pick Dana up at the airport. I made sure to drop by the Trueman Club Hotel to leave a message with Rita and her mom Alyce so they would not think I abandoned them (they had come in Thursday evening). I got to the airport, found the construction (what airport isn't! LOL) finished and the entire parking garage/entranceway completely changed. (Eek!) Once I reacclimated myself with the changes, I got in and found Dana's flight had be cancelled. <Grrr!> I went down to the usual gate and they gave me her new flight info. (3 that afternoon) which meant I had a few hours to kill.
So I dropped back by the hotel and met up with Rita and Alyce. Rita came with me and we stopped by my place to gather my schtuff. :-) Hung around...went back out to the airport and Dana finally arrived.
I needed to drop by my office to pick up the digital camera (that I ended up not using), so Dana and Rita got a quickie tour of Insight Media Advertising. LOL. We got back to the hotel, and Joe Mackey was there, and Dani. We sat around and chatted, then decided to go eat. We opened the "Green room" door and whoops.. James and Linda just getting in! So we waited for them and headed down to walk to Skyline. As the elevators opened Lisa and Honor were just coming up. So they walked over too.
We ate, then came back to the hotel and yakked, wondered where the heck Rodney was...and basically yakked. :-)
Saturday:
Linda pretty much covered the morning. :-) Dani picked Diane up at the airport while we hung out at the hotel and ate the free continental breakfast.
We drove to Mott's Military Museum, one of my favorite places, and looked around. There was quite a bit of new items since the last time I'd been there, so there were lots of new things for me to see too. :-) You can tell the minute you walk into the museum that it is a labor of love for the owners, which is what makes it special. When we left, I finally got that museum membership that I had been meaning to get each time I go.
(Note, June 3: I received my membership card for Mott's and a lovely note was enclosed. They said they really enjoyed the group's visit last weekend and hoped we had a good time as well.)
Whoops...forgot about the Thurber House. (D'oh!) I found the place quite interesting and a good physical point of reference. Though I swear the house reminded me SOO much of one of my relatives' homes, and I can't remember whose. LOL I found it interesting that there is a "ghost" in residence...having lived in a home with a resident ghost (very friendly) I want to learn more about that. :-)
That evening we dressed up nicely (as a group, I thought we cleaned up real swell! LOL). We went to the 94th Aerosquadron and had a yummy dinner. Since the restaurant was dark we decided to go back to the hotel to give out the fanfic awards. I received "Best Series" for the Baby Singer series, tied with Linda for "Best Researched" for Baby Singer series, "Best Alternate-WENN" for "Somewhere, My Love," and "Best Original Character" for one Miss Elizabeth Booth Singer (who would have made an acceptance speech, but it was nap time. ;) )
Thanks everyone who voted for me!! I really appreciate it, and hope that the series last 3 (or so.. LOL) stories meet the expectations of everyone. :-)
After that, we went back to the "Green room" (after we all retired to individual rooms to make ourselves comfy again. LOL) and watched episodes. Well, OK, 2 episodes. and some various Rupert clips Linda had brought (see Linda's report for details..LOL). We watched "Magic" and "In the WENN Small Hours." Then we all retired for the night as we were pooped!
Sunday:
Sunday we went to the Ohio Historical Museum's "Kilroy is Here: The Forties Revisited." This is an excellent exhibit, and will be there through December. If you are in the area, DO NOT MISS THIS! Dani and I had seen this exhibit a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. We found there were some new items, so it was fun seeing it again. We all had to take photos in front of the trolley. (Clang Clang LOL)
I agree with Linda...it was really neat for us all to be sitting on the stairs at the end of our visit and singing "Sentimental Journey" along with the piano player. Gosh, that was a really swell moment. :-) And I agree with Linda...Saturday night (I think it was.. everything blended in. LOL) when we all spontanously broke into singing "Remember When" along with Mary and Amanda, I'm not really sure there was a dry eye in the house after that.. :-) That was a beautiful moment. It really was. :-)
So we got back to the hotel.. and watched more episodes. We watched my other music videos (the Gulf War one and the Trek one—I completely forgot to show you guys my B5 one! LOL) Anyway, since I was hosting this party, watching "I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife" and "Valentino Speaks" was pretty much a given. ;-) But we waited until Diane and Dani got back from seeing Cabaret. (Diane still hasn't forgiven me for watching INPY without her in Pittsburgh. LOL. So I promised I'd wait.) So we waited, and watched the eps—and Diane and I promptly proved to people that we have seen both eps entirely too many times. We recited both episodes right along with the show. LOL. (Hey, we even knew Betty's lines! LOL) <snicker>
Anyway, it was hot in that villa..so very hot. Oh, sorry.. ;)...
Where was I? LOL Oh yeah...Sunday. Ok, I am blanking on the episodes we watched other than INPY and VS. Oh we watched GOW. (I love that one!)
Monday:
We got up, went to Bob Evans across the street for breakfast, checked out of the hotel and gathered in the lobby and talked for another hour or so. We finally decided it was time to depart, so we said out goodbyes, with hopes of doing this annually in a different WENNer's City. (I like the Atlanta Idea, Linda!)
In closing, this was very busy and hectic for me to plan, and I am so glad that it turned out as well as it did. I wish more folks had been able to come, but we had a great group and had a great time. The 40's exhibit at the Historical Center was a fluke. We were so lucky it was there. The weekend was very 40's-related and things worked out well. Thank you to everyone who voted for me in the fanfic awards, Congrats to those who won AND who were nominated. To be nominated is an honor (I almost capitalized that. LOL) as well!...Thanks guys, it was loads of fun and hopefully see ya again next year!!!
Biz