Mags' Vancouver LoneGunCon Report 2005
I seriously considered not filing a report because the others had done such good jobs on theirs. But I wanted to post my pictures and I knew if I did that there would need to be some explanation of the photos and if I took the time to explain the photos it would turn into a full blown Con Report so here it is: Mags' Con Report.
My adventures began Thursday right after work. I've been tutoring after school two days a week, Thursdays being one of those days. Since I live north of town and the airport is south of town, it made no sense to drive all the way home and head back south through Seattle to pick Linda and Kalia up at SeaTac. So, I went to spend the evening with my parents who live on the other side of the airport. Since I don't always have time to spend with my mom and dad, this was a nice bonus.
I checked the internet about an hour before their plane was due to land, and it was coming in a half hour early. Since we had a long drive ahead of us to get up to the lake, this was a bit of a relief. The two of them had been sitting in planes and airports all day and I figured they'd like nothing more than to put their feet up and relax as soon as possible. We might even get there before midnight and ahead of the others who would not be able to get inside since I had the only key.
I arrived at the airport and located the appropriate baggage carousel after a bit of confusion. It looked like the passengers were all assembled to pick up their luggage but I didn't see Linda or Kalia. I stood way back from the crowd and searched for the tall red head and shorter brunette with a baseball cap. After a couple of mintues, I finally spotted Linda who seemed to be scanning the crowd as well as watching the 'baggage-go-round'. I stepped up and stood beside Linda not saying anything. I wondered how long it would take her to notice me.
It didn't take very long. After some serious hugs from tired travellers, we grabbed the luggage and headed out to my car and up to the lake.
I had not told Linda and Kalia what the cabin was like, other than to reassure Linda that her blow drier would work and that she would not need any towels as the place was stocked with such things. Mad's family had recently spent a year and a half having the place remodeled. It was big before but now it is huge with lots of space for lots of beds. No one would have to sleep on a couch or share anything other than a room.
The city girls were a little freaked out by the darkness and the outdoors when we arrived but once we got inside, this was forgotten. Linda just kept saying, "Wow!" as we wandered through the house. It is big and Mad did a beautiful job on the remodel.
More Gunfen arrived shortly. Erynn and Evie first, then Anndie and Surr at about 12:30 a.m. We watched a vid that Surr had made in the car on the way up. (I still want a copy of that! Please!) But shortly after that, we went to bed.
The next day, I got up early to go buy some generic breakfast-like munchies because there was no food in the house. When I got back, people were just starting to move around.
I didn't take any pictures at the cabin. I don't know why but here is one I took of the lake that weekend in October when we finally got to move back in after more than a year of waiting. It shows the old dock which has now been replaced but I found this rainbow to be a nice 'Welcome Back' to the lake after such a long absence.
Yeah, yeah, I know. You want to see pictures from the con. Just hold on, they're coming.
We headed up into Canada after a quick breakfast at Denny's. Kalia was in my car and I had to wake her up when we got to the border. "We're leaving the US," I told her as we drove pass the Peace Arch. "And now we're in Canada."
I was worried when I found out that Kalia did not have a passport or her birth certificate. She had lots of other ID but I knew the border guards asked for the other two types of proof of citizenship. I wondered what we would do if they wouldn't let her and Linda into the country. They had come an awfully long way only to be turned back at the border.
After answering more questions than I have ever had to answer at the border (How do you two know each other? Um...from the internet.), we finally got across.
On the way up to Vancouver, we tried to find the overpass that was used in the pilot where Byers' father's car crashed and blew up. I was in the lead and knew we were not on the right track. I'd been there before and knew I had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way. We regrouped and decided to go to the hotel and visit the overpass later. I knew this meant that I would not get to see it because I was leaving late Saturday night and it would be too dark to and creepy to go down there by myself. But I've been there before and knew I could see it again another time.
With Anndie in the lead, we headed for the hotel but as we got back on the freeway, I didn't follow them closely enough to take the on-ramp the other two cars did. Kalia and I watched in surprise as the others got on the freeway heading away from Vancouver. I figured they'd taken a wrong turn and I got on going northbound, towards Vancouver figuring they'd turn around and head back in that general direction once they figured it out.
Looking at the Mapquest directions Anndie had given me, I knew I was way off the track. But the directions had the address of the hotel, so I stopped at a 7-11 and bought the Canadian equivalent of a Thomas Guide for Vancouver and the greater Fraser Valley area. (Nice map, very handy. It made it very easy to find everything else I needed to find for the rest of our time there.)
So, Kalia and I found the hotel with few problems and sat and waited and waited for the others. We finally called them and said, "Um, where are you guys?" They had backtracked to follow the Mapquest directions, so were taking the scenic route to the hotel.
While we waited, I took some pictures of the studio across the street. I must admit, that for some reason, I didn't expect it to look so professional. I don't know why. So, I was impressed that it looked more like the big studios in the LA area than some warehouse where they we doing locations or something.
I really liked the hotel and would stay there again. The prices were reasonable and the rooms had some nice amenities. And most importantly, the bed was comfy.
After a quick snack at the restaurant attached to the hotel, we split up. Erynn wanted to deliver some books to a friend. I knew that Linda wanted to get some pictures of Lion's Gate Bridge because the company she worked for had done some design work on a retrofit for the bridge. I offered to take her and Kalia into Stanley Park where there is an overlook that has a nice view of the bridge while the others went to deliver the books. Kalia did a wonderful job of navigating us through the downtown area with the handy dandy map. We drove past Gastown, which Linda wanted to at least see. I told her it was no longer a place to hang out, especially after dark.
And it was starting to get dark. I was afraid we weren't going to make it before the sun went down. Fortunately, there was little traffic through Stanley Park because I was speeding in an effort to get a picture before nightfall.
Actually, our timing was pretty good. The sun was going down as we got to the overlook. This meant that the lights were already on on the bridge but there was just enough light to take a couple of pictures plus a nice shot or two of the setting sun.
Here's the bridge and the sunset.
It was quite dark under the trees by the sign where I took this picture. I had to lighten it up a bit in Photoshop. That's why it looks a little funny but at least you can see Kalia and Linda.
We met up with the others down on Davie street and visited a book store. I bought a card at a nearby framing store when what I really wanted was the framed print I saw in the window but it was out of my price range. The print on the card was by the same artist. It was my consolation prize and it fit in my purse.
We wandered around a bit looking for somewhere to eat and settled on a Japanese restaurant. The others wanted to sit at a table in the window but you had to climb over a short wall and down into a hole to sit there. I knew there was no way I could do this and get back out of there in any graceful manner so the others were nice enough to move to a regular table for me. I was glad someone else, Linda to be exact, mentioned that the tea tasted like sticks. It did. Honest to God, it tasted like sticks. But the rest of my meal was delicious. I had chicken teriyaki and it was the best I've ever had. Even the miso soup, which I don't often like, was good.
We stopped at a drugstore so some people could buy medicines over the counter that you need a prescription to buy in the states. I found the dill pickle flavored Lays chips that I had promised to bring home to Mad. (I still needed to find the Bacon flavor though. Those were the ones she really wanted.)
We headed back to the hotel, watched a video for a while then went to bed.
We met up the next morning a little before 10 a.m., had breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, then split up into two cars and went in search of Smallville. Anndie led the way and I followed.
I've never really watched Smallville but my sister and her kids are deeply into it so I was excited to get some pictures to show them. Our first stop in Cloverdale (the town that, without all it's Canadian flags, is Smallville) was a huge antiques store. They had some great stuff: old gaspumps, juke boxes, toy cars, etc. I looked for swords and dirks for my dad and found none but enjoyed the visit nonetheless.
I took this picture as we left the antiques store. There was a bigger one like it at the other end of town but I liked that you could see both the Cloverdale side and the Smallville side on this one.
I was told this theatre is used as a diner in the series. That's Eve and some of the others standing outside the theatre.
Michael Roberds met us here but had his neice in the car (or halfway out of the car as the case may be). He gave us the directions to find the Kent family farm from Smallville. It was quite a drive to get out there and I know I wouldn't be able to find it on my own but even I recognized it from the few mintues I've seen of the show.
Next, we headed out to the deserted hospital that the city of Vancouver rents out to production companies to film in. Here is the main entrance looking forboding.
Here's Kalia taking our picture as we stood at the top of the stairs at the main entrance.
There were signs inside that showed that the building was in use for filming. I noticed these two windows obviously had wooden facades placed over them on the inside to make the interiors of the rooms look like they are in different buildings. In this picture you can see one in the window under the arched window in the tower and another off to the left of that one.
Next we visited a tea shop. I was delighted to note that just down the street from the tea shop was Death By Chocolate. This was feature on $40 a Day: the show where Rachel Ray visits a town and finds lots of local places to eat keeping her budget under $40 a day. When she was in Vancouver, she came to this place for a evening treat. Although we didn't go inside, I had to take a picture. Like most everything else we'd done, it was a TV location.
From here we had to find the apartment building AD Walter Skinner lived in. I was fortunate to miss the stop light and got this pictrure out the window of my car while waiting for it to change.
At this point, the two cars split up. I took Erynn and Kalia back to the hotel but I decided to do some more sightseeing on my own.
I went out to Queen Elizabeth Park where they had filmed parts of the LGM episode "The Lying Game". This was another location I had visited before. The park is beautiful and this past summer Mad, Margaret and I went into the conservatory and visited the sunken gardens on the other side of the park. I also got gas (gasp! I couldn't believe the price) and found a grocery store that had the bacon flavored Lays potato chips for Mad.
This picture is from this past summer. That's my friend Margaret standing where Carol in "The Lying Game" walked to follow the bad guys.
I sat on the empty bench in this picture and watched the ducks sleep then I did some word puzzles. By the time I got too cold to sit there any more, it was time to go find the restaurant where we'd agreed to meet Mike, Lance, Bruce and Heather for dinner.
I found the restaurant with no problems thanks to the handy dandy map. I waited near the door for the others to show up. They arrived shortly and, when Erynn went inside to ask if we could sit in the chairs outside while we waited for our table, they told us our table inside was ready.
I picked a spot where I would not block the aisle and ran off to find the bathroom. When I got back, I saw that everyone else had settled at the other end of the big table leaving me near the front end by myself. I was a bit nervous about his because that meant the remaining chairs would be filled by those who had not yet arrived: Mike, Lance, Bruce and Heather. When we've had these dinners in the past, I've never been close enough to talk to these nice people but this time, I'd get my chance: LOL, if I could manage to get the nerve up to actually say something.
Mike and Lance arrived together. Lance sat down by Linda (that's him in the foreground of the next picture) and Mike sat between him and me.
Lance took this picture of Mike and me. I handed my camera down the table hoping Linda or one of the others would take the shot of the our end but he said, "Okay, scoot closer" and took a few pictures for me. He liked the digital camera and was entertained by the picture it showed on the back. I thought, "He must have used a digital camera before this," but I have no way of knowing.
Deciding I wasn't going to just sit there like an idiot, I asked Mike about his niece that we'd seen earlier that day. He said she was 7 (this I'd figured, she looked and acted like most of my students) and that she was following in his footsteps. She had auditioned for several commercials but not gotten any. She did get the chance to be in a short film about zombies. She played a little kid zombie. The film was screened at a local (I believe) film festival and she won best actress at the festival, not just best kid actress but best actress over all. He was very proud of her. We talked for a bit longer before Bruce and Heather arrived.
They settled in the two remaining chairs at the table. Heather told Bruce he had to sit at the end. Introductions were made all around. At this point, Bruce and Mike starting talking shop. I just sat back and listened making occasional comments but mostly just laughing at what they were saying. They talked about many aspects of being an actor, being an actor in Vancouver, the difference between how you were treated if you were an extra or an actor, favorite shows they watched, people they knew, projects they've worked or were working on, etc.
At one point they were talking about the remake of Night Stalker. I asked if they were going to recreate the pilot, part of which was filmed in Underground Seattle. Mike asked if Underground Seattle was still there because he'd remembered it from the original. I said it was and that I'd been down there the previous summer but that it wasn't as interesting as it used to be as parts of it were closed off.
Mike talked about how he got the part of Uncle Fester and what it was like to be on The New Addams Family. He mentioned how he was allowed to have some input in how the character would act and even how he would dress. He also talked about how hard he and some of the others involved with the show are working to get it out on DVD.
When Mike mentioned costuming, Bruce said that if the LGM had gone into a second season, he would have tried to get it into his contract that Byers would be seen at least once during each episode wearing something other than a suit. He talked about his wedding ring and how he'd worn it for years and that he had built a whole backstory for himself that Byers had been married years previously and that none of this was a problem until Three of a Kind on the X-Files.
At one point they discussed the difference between American fans and Canadian fans. Bruce said that American fans would come up to him and Tom on the street and say, "Hey, you're those guys on the X-Files". Then they'd walk on. But that in Canada, Bruce said that people on the street would walk right past David Duchovny without saying anything, but that the moment they were out of his line of sight, they would turn and point him out to each other.
They started talking about old time radio shows and I mentioned that a friend of mine has an enormous collection of reel to reel tapes of those old shows. He has such a comprehensive collection that he does second audio programing on the local PBS station and that in the middle of the night they run his tapes on a cable station. All three: Heather, Bruce and Mike, were excited by this. Heather wanted to know if he had any of the old Jack Benny shows. I said I would check.
Eventually, Heather and I got onto a subject I could speak to with more than a passing knowledge: Education. I had often wondered what the Canadian education system was like: class size restrictions, special ed, contracts, pay, etc. After a lively discussion, I came to the conclusion that it's worse there than here. (In Canada, if the school district's budget doesn't balanace , their contract pretty much goes out the window. Class size restrictions are removed and a class of 25 can become a class of 50.)
Bruce asked me if we funded our schools with property taxes. I told him that we did have levies which need a 60% approval to pass but that most of the funding came from the state.
We swapped horror stories for a bit but changed the subject to talk about something more pleasant.
Near the end of our three hour dinner, Mike asked Bruce who the producers were on The Lone Gunmen. He said that Chris Carter had a passing involvement but that it was mostly Gilligan, Spotnitz and a third guy. But he was having trouble coming up with the third guy's name. I knew it and thought, "If I say this, I will prove myself to be geek fangirl supreme. Who else would know the names of producers on a show that only ran for 13 episodes? But I'm sitting here, aren't I? Doesn't this prove my ubergeeky fangirlness? Ah, hell, go for it!"
I looked at Bruce. "Shiban," I said but not very loudly.
"What?" he asked.
"Shiban."
I was pronouncing it incorrectly. "Shiban! That's right!" he said.
Later, Anndie or Linda, I'm not sure which, mentioned the spot in the pilot where Bruce was told he'd be off camera and was just standing to one side in the shot doing nothing. He didn't catch her reference and said he didn't remember it. I told him it was when Tom was digging through the crushed car and he was standing holding a hose. Then he remembered it. It felt odd to say Tom's name like I knew him but in that millisecond in which you decide what words to use to convey your meaning, I chose to say that and not Mr. Braidwood or Tom Braidwood or even Frohike.
(Yes, I know, I'm weird. Deal with it.)
I know the minute I stop trying to tell you more of what we said and what was talked about, I'll remember something else. But then I'd be here all day and you have better things to do.
As we wrapped it up and were saying our goodbyes, Bruce went down the line and gave everyone a hug. I don't mean a quick hug but a hug long enough that I was able to say after a few moments, "Thanks so much for coming out to have dinner with us." I was quite surprised. The last time he came to talk with us he seemed so apprehensive, as if he wasn't sure what to make of us.
We took group pictures outside. (I didn't get one with my camera. Kalia was holding 4 or 5 cameras and I figured out of all of those, I could snag one from somebody. I must steal a copy of Linda's. Hers looks the best of all the ones I've seen.)
I left to head south at this point. Getting across the border at midnight was a breeze. There were only two cars ahead of me.
I got back to the lake at about 1 a.m. I thought I'd drop right off to sleep since I was so tired and had fought to stay awake on the drive down. But everytime I'm up there alone at night, the smallest noises make me go, "What was that? Is that someone downstairs?" But I finally fell asleep.
The next day, I headed back home, picked up Mad and headed down to my parents' house. We got them in the car and headed even further south to Camp Murray (National Guard Base) which is south of Tacoma. It was more complicated to get onto that military base than it was to get across the border. Not only did everyone have to have photo ID (I still had my passport so I used that) but Mad also had to present the registration on her car and proof of insurance. Getting out was a breeze though.
The ceremony for Greg (Margaret's husband) to receive his bronze star was short but touching. His father was a Navy Seal and had not only been awarded the bronze star but also the silver. They asked his father to pin Greg's bronze star on for him.
I was not aware of how rare this honor was until they had all those who had received a purple heart or a bronze star come up for a group picture. The room was packed with current and former military, most of whom have seen action of some kind (Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea and even WWII). Only about 8 people got up for the group picture.
I don't think I've ever seen anything or anyone as brave as I saw that day as Greg, through his tears in a room full of soldiers, thanked his father and his father's Navy Seal friends. He said that he didn't deserve the award but that his wife did as she had waited at home for him through two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
This is Margaret and Greg and Greg's parents.
This is a little friend of mine. They had to hold up the whole ceremony for him and his family to get there. But he's just so cute, I had to throw his picture in as well. That's Mad holding him but, at her request, I cut her out of the picture.
After the ceremony was over, I headed back home, then back up to the cabin where I was worried that Linda, Kalia and Eve were fading away from hunger. I had left munchies but they had no car to either go get dinner or go out to dinner.
We went to Red Robin in Mt. Vernon. (Bruce had at first suggested this upscale burger joint as a place to meet for dinner but the small Italian restaurant that was his second suggestion was a better choice.)
Linda spotted a Cold Stone ice cream place when we arrived at RR so we went over there after dinner.
We went back to the cabin, watched some TV, chatted on line a bit then went to bed. We had to get up early in the morning to make it to the airport in time for Kalia and Linda's flight home.
The next morning, we made it out of there in good time and got to the airport with no trouble. There was a nasty accident on the freeway but with forewarning from the radio, we hopped over to old highway 99 and bypassed all the traffic. This took us over the Alaskan Way Viaduct and past some of the more interesting spots in Seattle along the waterfront.
After dropping Linda and Kalia off at the airport, Eve and I headed back north. We stopped at my school (Eve is a teacher, too) then went down to Archie McPhees. This is a spot that Anndie and Surr usually visit when they are in Seattle and Eve had never been there. And since it's close to my school, it seemed like a good place to go. I bought some Devil Duckies that I didn't have and some DD bandaids and an eraser. I also got a J.P. Patches action figure. (If you grew up in the greater Seattle area, you know who this is. Sorry, this has gotten too long to explain it to everyone else. Try Google.)
I took Eve back to my house where we spent the rest of the afternoon. I had to have Eve up at Erynn's for dinner. Erynn's new condo is really nice and in a great area by Silver Lake.
At this point, I was soooooo tired, I went home and crashed. I had a great weekend but didn't get a lot of sleep.
Thanks to everyone for making it memorable. One of the best things about it was that I really got a chance to get to know Linda, Kalia and Eve better. I got to talk one on one to all of them. I don't get a chance to do this, especially in IRC, since we're on two different coasts.
I hope we get to do this again next year.
Mags