And my version's gonna be a little abbreviated, because I left Saturday after the book-signing and headed back down to D.C. to the waiting (strong, muscular, and loving <ewg>) arms of my honey. However...
I had offered to give transportation to Katie from Dulles International to the hotel at Harpers Ferry. Got to the airport at 2:15 or so, parked out front -- since I'm rather new at picking people up at the airport and thought perhaps that I could just run back in, snag Ms. Katie, and get back to the car before the dreaded Airport Police ticketed my car. However, once I got inside and realized you have to take a SHUTTLE to get to all the C gates, where I was supposed to meet Katie, I turned around, went back through the metal detector gates -- which kept beeping for some reason -- got back in my car, circled back around to the terminal, and found a parking spot in the hourly lot. Then back inside the blessed air conditioning of the airport, back through the metal detectors -- beep, beep, beep! -- and onto the shuttle. I had noticed on the Arrivals board that Katie's flight didn't actually get in until 2:17 (as opposed to the 12:30 that she had expected), so I was a little reassured that she hadn't been going positively nuts waiting for me. But, still ... I had told her I'd meet her there around 2:00, and I hate being late for anything. At gate C-22 I started searching the chairs for Katie, whom I had never met before, of course, but who had given me a physical description to go on. Saw no one that I thought could be Katie. But then I heard someone say "Jennifer?" and, Eureka! No, she assured me, she hadn't been waiting long. Had her luggage all ready and was ready to go. At this point I somewhat abashedly confessed that I'd failed to inform her that the A/C in my car was inoperable. I think that for one brief moment she considered hiring a cab <g>, but she was game enough, and we headed back out into the heat and blazing sunshine. And it was HOT! But the hotel had provided me with good driving directions earlier, and between Katie and me, we managed to get there without a single wrong turn. Which is kind of amazing, considering that Katie and I both can do some talking!!! But the countryside was beautiful ... all these horse farms and rolling hills with gleaming white fences and grazing horses ... and the hotel was utterly charming ... up on this cliff where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet and mingle.
Since Katie was rooming with Pam from PA, who had not yet arrived, she went upstairs with me to my room -- on only the second floor, thank heavens! -- where, as she said, we were greeted by the sight of a potential flood problem. The ceiling was leaking onto a little writing table that was set up in the sitting area of my room. Trudge, trudge, trudge ... back downstairs to inform the desk clerk. "Go on back up," she says. "I'll call maintenance."
So trudge, trudge, trudge ... back upstairs. Hey, at least the room had A/C! Katie and I took turns standing in front of the unit and trying to cool down. To kill some time, we headed down to the bar, where they were setting up in anticipation of our visit, and sat and drank lemonade -- two rounds on Lloyd ("That's two l's") -- for a while. Lloyd, in case the other ladies don't make it perfectly clear in their accounts, is quite the character, but was wonderfully gracious and solicitous. He took very good care of us throughout the evening. Anyway, after a while we headed back up to the room, where I left Katie for a while so I could go fill up my gas tank. And just as Sue mentioned that there was no McDonald's to be found, I had a heck of a time trying to locate a gas station. Must have had to drive a good five or ten miles! Anyway, back at the hotel again, and I decided that a nap would be in order. Moments later, a knock on the door -- Pam from PA! Katie and Pam headed off to their room, and I indulged in that nap.
Headed down to the bar at 8:00 to find that many of the ladies were already there. I would never have guessed all the names, but I sure am thankful now that I have finally had an opportunity to match faces and names. I introduced myself as "Jennifer -- JennWic1", which seemed the appropriate way, and spent the rest of the evening trying to learn the names. Nancy Ottis passed out the tee-shirts, which were really great, and I promptly initiated mine by spilling half a glass of wine on it. I talked with Pam and Wymzee (whose name is Nina, but whom I still think of as Wymzee and probably always will ... her son [The Boy] is quite the hotty, btw) and Phyllis and lots of others. The game SongBurst was a hit, but I know that in my own case, I was only good for the first line or two of the songs. Gotta work on that in preparation for next year. Of course, I sing really, really badly, so it was probably just as well that I couldn't burst out in song. I think the get together down in the bar lasted until 11:30 or so, maybe a little later, and then the BB/N crowd dispersed.
The next morning, a group of us -- let's see ... Gerri, Edith, Pam, Katie, Vicky, Arlene, Debby, and Gerri's daughter Chelsea (and I think I'm missing one more Board Broad) -- met and went to a UBS that was great. Very well organized! I didn't buy much, but Edith and Pam and Debby and Gerri walked out with a lot! Then back to Boonsboro and Crawford's for lunch. They've got really great French fries there, which, of course, I just had to have, because a day without French fries ... At one or so we headed next door to TTP, which was already packed to the gills. The line went from the front of the store to the back, down the back stairs, then looped around and headed back up to the front. And it was stuffy in there! While a bunch of us were in the back part of the store, I heard a big thump and looked over to see that a waiting customer had passed out! She was okay, but she immediately got the seat of honor in front of the fan. More waiting, and everyone seemed to be in pretty good spirits. No grumpiness that I could hear. I got up to the front and there were Nora, Pat, and Elaine Fox sitting at the signing table. All three looked really nice, and quite calm, cool, and collected, but I was struck by how much work it has to be for an author to be held captive behind a table for two hours or longer. Seriously! No wonder Nora refers to her annual book tour as work. I believe it! I had gone in with a small bag of books for her to sign, including The Perfect Neighbor (which she had dedicated to her cyberpals -- that's us!!!!) but instead limited my requests to one for me, two for my best friend, and one for my boyfriend's mother. I just didn't want to hold up the line any longer than necessary. And of course I bought The Saving Graces and Elaine Fox's The Impostor.
Then it was outside, where if it wasn't a whole lot cooler, at least the air was circulating a bit.
Now, has anyone mentioned The Porch Lady? This was a lady who was sitting in a chair on the front porch of TTP and had been there for most of the afternoon, evidently. It seems that all the relatively cool, circulating air within the vicinity of the porch belonged to this woman and only to this woman, and anyone who dared to interfere with her fresh breezes was asked to move out of the way, or at least to stand sideways. Pam got a couple of pictures of this friendly and charming soul, so maybe we'll all have a chance to see them posted at ADWOFF. Anyway, a trip around the corner yielded some butter pecan ice cream and more blessed air conditioning. We returned to TTP and visited there for a while before everyone started taking off for their respective destinations. And my destination, at this point, was the DC suburbs.
So ... my first TTP was a little briefer than I had originally planned, but I had a great time. A more friendly, open group of people I could not imagine. As an only-occasional poster, I'm amazed by the friendships that have been created here on this board. And so much credit goes to the core group that keeps this board alive: Sue, Wym, Ottis, NancyD, Phyllis, and others. They deserve such credit for all that they do when it comes to organizing these events, which seem to just keep getting bigger and bigger. I didn't take a head count down in the bar Friday night, but I'd estimate the crowd at around 30-35, and I would imagine that next year will yield an even larger group. I plan to be there!!!
Jennifer
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