WONDERFEST 2017

Ok, here is my tale of WF2017 from my own perspective.
For those who do not know, that is me on the right and my daughter on the left.

THURSDAY
As usual, had the car loaded the night before, and got started about 7:30 in the morning.
Uneventful trip down, though it was strange not stopping in Columbus. My daughter was driving separate this year.
It was a warm one though, and oddly enough, no rain at all the whole drive.

Here is where things started going, not perfect. I had requested room 279 again. The same room I had last year, a few doors down from the Canadian Embassy.
Of course they couldn't give it to me. [roll eyes] Though I did end up with a room in that same area of the 2nd floor, which was fine by me. As long as I don't have to deal with the elevators on a regular basis, I'm cool. And, as it turns out, being on the patio wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Seems the Crown Plaza has changed it's policy yet again. Now there is no smoking in the courtyard, on the patio, or on your balcony.
More on that later.

Well, I got the car unloaded. 5 trips due to all the liquid refreshments I brought along.
Just as I got everything put away and set up, Britny showed up. So I helped her haul all her stuff up too.
Then we visited and roamed around a bit. Visiting with friends.
A run to Subway for dinner, after which I went roaming again, while she painted a bit.
She still had to work on her entries (and so did I)
We spent most of our time hanging out outside the side door, due to the new smoking policy, that is where most people ended up.
Everyone ended up calling it an early night. Like around midnight :o !

FRIDAY
I got to sleep in. Britny was already in the shower by the time I got out of bed. We had some breakfast.
After I got up, and ate, I wandered around the hotel checking things out. While she painted some more.
Poked my head in the various classes going on.
Went back to the room and started finishing my last entry that needed a few finishing touches.
Then Brit took off to go explore a castle in Louisville. Initially I had planned to go with her, but decided I'd rather have a nice relaxing day of doing nothing much instead..
After Brit got back, we hung out some more, got our badges, and contest entry forms.
Before that, I spent a decent amount of time hanging out by where the dealers load in. Glad I did. Had a chance to hook up with Jeff Brown.
Got a chance to have a nice conversation about a huge project he has been working on. He showed me plenty of cool pix of the progress so far, and gave me a casting of one of the parts of it. A few more conversations with other people, and it was time to run out for dinner.
After that it was time for after-hours activities. Which was limited due to no smoking on the patio. That meant no Embassy :(
And largely consisted of hanging out the side doors. Though I did wander the halls and lobby a bit to see who else I would see.
Meanwhile Britny was in the room frantically trying to completely redo an entry that had to be stripped and repainted on Friday night.


After she finished up, she came down to drink with the rest of us.
Since there was no Canadian Embassy on the patio, Crazy Joe wanted to try tailgating out by the edge of the parking lot.
For me, this was a mixed bag. Sure, we were out of the way and had a lot of fun. But it also cut us off from the rest of everything going on.
The beauty of the Embassy was it was in a high traffic area and easy to find. We had people pop in and out all evening which kept the festivities fun and fresh.
Out on the edge of the parking lot it was mainly the same group all night long.

Things lasted a bit later than the night before. Think most made it until around 1. We roamed around a bit, but couldn't find anyone else up and called it a night.

SATURDAY
Up and ready to go around 9 so I could get my entries down to the contest room.
Hang out some more while waiting for the dealers room to open to the public. Made my first pass around the dealers room. Snagged a couple pieces that I am glad I did. As one was a one-shot from the dealers collection, and the other was sold out on my second pass.
I was pleasantly surprised by the addition of a few more vendors selling paints, tools, and supplies this year.
By this time Britny was gone.
The reason she drove down herself was because she had to run back to Columbus for a wedding. She left around 11. Just enough time for a quick look around the dealers room, then on the road. She would be back later that night to take part in after hours activities.
We ran separately so I don't know how much she saw before she left.
I ran back to the room to drop stuff off and grab a quick bite. Then back for my 2nd pass through the dealers room.
A couple things I had been on-the-fence about were gone, which was fine by me. Made my decision easy that way.
I did find a rare treat on the Hodge Hobbies table though. And old Warp - Shaddow Vessel from B5. It was in a brown carboard box with sharpie written on it.
I opened it up and checked it over before gladly handing my money over.
Back to the room, then to look through the contest room. Followed by a last pass through the dealers room. Which was much slower, so I had time to chat with various dealers. I picked up a couple of small kits before the day came to a close. Then it was back to the room to rest and unwind for a while
I ordered pizza and just laid on the bed until it arrived. Then ate while watching the Pens game on TV.
Went out at the first intermission to socialize. When I went back up to the room for a refill, the game was going badly, so I went back outside.
Sometime in there Britny returned and joined the fun. She had changed into her shirt that was made just for this.

We bounced between the tailgate, and the entrance a few times, before heading up to the Cult Suite for a bit.
Managed to make it into the group photo again

Then back to the tailgate until everyone left again. This time it was closer to 2.

SUNDAY
Needless to say, I didn't get up in time for the 9 AM demo. Britny did though
Much quieter day. More time to visit and hang out with dealers. As well as look at kits on the tables.
Hit the contest room again for more pictures with less people around. Discovered that 2 of my kits earned a Merit!
And even better, FSM wanted to photograph one of them!

Before I knew it, it was almost time for the awards ceremony. So I ran to the room to get a box and my entry forms.
I was suprised to get called for a bronze on one of my entries.

After that we had to go to the contest room to retrieve our stuff..
Back to the dealers room for more shopping and hanging out before it ended. Lots of dealers were already packing up, but I still managed to find a few
things to grab before it was over.
We were both starved so we imediately took off for dinner. Which turned out to be easier said than done.
Initially we went to Bob Evans over on Preston, only to find a sign saying "Closed due to construction"!
Had to turn around and back track. Britny found a Crackerbarrel on her phone, so we headed over there. Only to drive past it and end up on an on ramp for 65, which took us back up to the hotel, so we basically drove around a really big block. Back the way we went and turned in the right spot this time.
The food was ok, but nothing special. It did hit the spot though.
Back to the hotel, and I packed up a bunch of stuff and ran it out to the car so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning. Basically entries, purchases, and supplies.
Then it was back outside. Most of the Embassy was still in the banquet, so we just hung out by the door. Then they came out and nagged us to get up and move to the tail-gate. Only to leave us there and head back to the banquet. It was ok, we had a chance to have a great conversation with Jessie.
We brought out all our extra snacks and Britny's cooler to try and get rid of as much as possible.
This time things went much later. I called it a night around 3:30 not sure when Brit came up. Last I knew it was her Joe, Jessie, and Bo.

MONDAY
Of course, the next morning wasn't as much fun. Packing. Loading the car. Checking out. Last bit of hanging out before hitting the road.
The drive back was pretty uneventful. Just long and boring. But I got home around 6 PM, so it was still light when I unloaded the car.

In summary
Overall, I would have to say, this was a good show!
No traffic issues to speak of.
We had an ok room!
So much fun had with so many people.
Met even more people this year.
Found some great kits,
My contest entries didn't do too bad. I went 3 for 9.
And I still left with a little cash in my wallet.
It wasn't as good as last year, but last year was just amazing, and is going to be hard to top. And with the current arrangement, I don't think it will.
Again, hotel policies are making it harder to socialize and mingle and further pushing people apart.
And sadly, we never once sat on the couch this weekend. :(
It was the end of an era.

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