WorldCon Day One

I'm now in Spokane for WorldCon. It was a very long day of travel yesterday, but I did manage to get some rest and though I'm a little groggy, I think I'm ready to take on the convention. I'm just not going to be much of a night owl, I suspect. The time difference is hitting me. I managed to stay up until 10 last night and slept until 7, but by the time the convention will be opening the next few days, I'd already had breakfast and walked about 3.5 miles.

The walking is going to be great this week. My hotel is right on the walking path along the river, so I saw sights like this


on my morning walk. I went down to the upper falls this morning and will have to hit the real falls tomorrow. We'll see if I ever get the nerve to cross that suspension bridge over the falls. I'm not a huge fan of high bridges.


Going in the other direction, the river is a lot more peaceful.


There's even a part of the path that runs through some woods. Yeah, along a river while in the woods, so basically my idea of heaven.


I'm still figuring out the camera on my new phone.

I ended up at this hotel because it was the only one with rooms available for the dates I needed when I booked, but it's working out pretty well. It's across the river, and a rather pleasant walk, from the convention center. They give you free wine at night and free breakfast in the morning, and the breakfast room has English Breakfast tea instead of just regular tea bags. I have a refrigerator and a microwave in my room. Everyone's been very friendly, so it feels kind of like a family-run hotel. And they've done a rather clever thing with the toiletries. Instead of the tiny bottles you have to struggle to get stuff out of, and then you feel wasteful throwing them away when you've only used a little, they have built-in dispensers of shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel in the bathroom, so you just pump and get as much as you want, with no tiny bottles. They do have a tiny container of lotion, which is nice, because it's dry here and I will be carrying it around with me.

My programming starts this afternoon, and there's a reception this evening for the writers workshop. So more details on that later, or follow me on Twitter @ShannaSwendson, in case I remember to tweet.