home again, home again jiggity-jig
I'm home from the STAR conference in Ithaca, NY. The weekend started out rough...we decided to take the back way to avoid construction on the major highways, but didn't realize it was going to be the really back way. We're talking gravel roads & no signs of life for miles, which turned a 4hr trip into something more along the lines of 6 1/2. Yikes. And at times, I swear I heard banjos playing. Dueling banjos, if you know what I mean.
The up side of traveling off the beaten path, tho, is that we saw at least half a dozen hawks...honestly, I've never seen so many in such a short period of time...a flock of turkeys, a heron, deer, & plenty of squirrels & chipmunks. One poor squirrel ran right out in front of us. We slammed on the brakes, thought for sure we'd hit it (I had images of getting out of the car, looking under the tire, & finding nothing but a bushy squirrel tail sticking out), then saw it racing up a hill & back into the woods. But I'm pretty sure we scared it enough that as soon as it got clear of the road, it had a heart attack & died anyway. :-p
Once we arrived in Ithaca, tho, everything went fine. The hotel & conference were very nice. Smaller than I'd expected, even after being told attendance would be around 55; then again, I have no concept of numbers. Show me a jar of jelly beans & I'd be as likely to guess there were 15 as 1000 inside. So it was casual & very quaint. I haven't been to a conference that small in years, & I really liked it.
Got to meet MaryJanice Davidson & shared a chuckle with her over stories of our respective grandmothers. "United in grandmothers!" she says...tho that's not necessarily a good thing. Also got the chance to chat a bit with Sherri Kenyon, Jean Brashear, & Stevi Mittman. My own workshop went well, I think. The time sped by really quickly, so there wasn't as much time to chat or do Q&A at the end as I'd been hoping. I did receive an invitation to speak at the Pocono-Lehigh RWA Chapter, tho, which I thought was neat. Not sure how far away they are or when that will be, but I said sure!
The conference ended with a small Book Fair. I guess there'd been a mix-up with the store that was supposed to supply books, leaving most authors without or with only a few copies available to sign. Luckily, I'd thrown a box of my own titles in the trunk before I left, so I had plenty. :-) That was fun; I love meeting people at signings...for some reason, the conversations can be so interesting.
Even tho we probably could have gotten home Saturday night, we'd booked the hotel room thru Sunday just to be safe. So after the Book Fair, we went to Max's Bar & Grill right there in the hotel. Let me tell you, if you ever get the chance, stop in at a Max's just for the dessert. Oh. My. God. I forget the exact names, but we tried the Mud Pie & Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream desserts & wished we hadn't bothered with dinner. Sooooooooo good. Betray-your-best-friend, give-up-your-children-to-gypsies good. I also had a mixed drink--a Hawaiian Punch--that was out of this world. Yep, that's me. Give me booze & ice cream, & I'm a happy gal.
The trip home went much better than the trip there, since we stuck to main roads. Only took the before mentioned 4hrs this time. Stopped at a little out of the way place for brunch...I forget which town we were in, but it was called the Antler Inn. (And, yes, as I feared even before I got out of the car, there were animal heads & carcasses on the walls. Ugh. Why is it that any time a new country restaurant opens, they immediately decorate with dead animal parts? Do they think taxidermy equals "home cookin'"?) But the food was delicious, despite the decor. Made-to-order omelets, a salad bar, & fresh strawberries. I hadn't had a piece of fruit all weekend, so I was pretty jazzed about the berries. :-)
Now I'm home, supposedly unpacking, & (also supposedly) ready to get back to work. The kitty cats did fine while I was away, tho two of them are extra needy & the other two refuse to speak to me as punishment for leaving them at all. And even tho it's still failry early, I know I'm going to end up falling into bed soon & sleeping like the undead. (Hey, after spending the weekend with Sherrilyn Kenyon & MaryJanice Davidson, what did you expect me to say? :-D)
