GrangeCon3 2009

GrangeCon3 was held at the Eden Resort on July 4th weekend.

GrangeCon3 ended Sunday at 1pm. It was even more fun than the previous 2 GrangeCons and it appears that everyone is now ASSUMING there will be a GrangeCon4! Once again we had about a dozen attendees staying over in the hotel.

We had 4 who dropped in for awhile:

· Tim, Steph's fiancée, contributed to the Bake Off Friday evening. He returned Sunday morning to join us for breakfast and end of the con events and socializing.

· Guy & Jackie arrived for the Bake Off with drinks and an extra bottle of tequila; Guy & Jackie always time their visit to coincide with Name That Tune, which may or may not be planned, but which always pleases us.

· Sam, one of Bret's friends who was new to GrangeCon, joined us for the Bake Off.

We had 3 unexpected drop-ins:

· Bryan on Friday night, returning Saturday night, and again Sunday morning (he must really like us!)

· David R (Bryan’s brother) and girlfriend Rachael joined us Saturday evening. Bryan & David had seen our flyer at Lunacon! Wow! Someone saw it and actually came!

We had 4 first time but expected attendees:

· David K & girlfriend Christine

· Ryan & girlfriend Megan

Bake Off

Christine won the Bake Off with her cheesecake cupcakes (yummm!). Nate tied her with his signature salsa but lost the coin toss that broke the tie (what? you thought we would vote AGAIN?). Paul came in 2nd with a British recipe for mushrooms with Stilton cheese (I hate cooked mushrooms but the sauce really was good!). Bret brought an excellent vegetarian chili, Roger contributed his smoked chicken (which, by the way, seems to get even better as it ages), Steph made strawberry soup which doubled as a smoothie (would make a good dessert with a dollop of Cool Whip :) ), and Tim made a citrus Bundt cake whose secret ingredient was tabasco. It was a really good cake that caught you by surprise at the end of each bite!

Name That Tune

Name That Tune stumped everyone most of the time. No surprise there. Bill always has more faith in our memories than is warranted by our yearly performance. It does, however, elicit a discussion of films.

Skiffy Surprise

The Skiffy Surprise turned out to be classic SF books. A large percentage of the attendees had never heard of most of the authors. There were 3 ways you could win a book but the most fun, by far and away, was the hunt for the winning stickers on Saturday afternoon. Picture 15-20 people in two rooms, approximately 12x18 each, all turning everything upside down in an effort to find the 4 hidden stickers! It was hilariously fun! Bill promises a repeat next year, prizes to be determined at Bill’s whim.

Traditional Saturday evening dinner

We all caravaned to the Lancaster Brewing Company on Plum St where a table for 15 awaited us.

The question of the night was “Have you experienced a Schroedinger moment?” This led to a heated discussion of what a Schroedinger moment really is and what, if any, is the difference between believing and knowing. The restaurant staff were cheerful and accommodating, the food was good, and the company was stellar!

Fireworks

After dinner we all trooped over to the empty parking lot across from the Eden Resort to set off fireworks. The highlight was the one that sent little men with parachutes arcing onto the lawn. The ones most enjoyed were probably the pyramids that whistle and sail off into the trees, onto housetops, etc.

There were late night discussions, movies & movie discussions, a book group discussion of Paul’s second book, swimming, and an SF & Fantasy Trivia quiz.