California Dreamin' 98

..........or how to pay twice for one banquet!

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Well, as you may have guessed from the title, things were not all positive at the dreamin' conference in San Francisco!

This is not to say that it wasn't a good time, but the fact that I had to pay twice for a Banquet ticket did not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

I arrived in SF late on Friday night, with the intention to possibly get to the conference hotel Saturday during the day, register (for the dinner) and check out some of the vendors. I had been chatting via email with Michelle and Kalani and was looking forward to meeting them both. I met Michelle Friday night when she called me at the hotel after spending the afternoon touring SF. She was very nice and offered to pick up a ticket for the Sat. night Pub Crawl the next day. We made plans to meet before dinner and said our good nights. Kalani was busy at work and she was to contact me on Saturday. I finished un packing and doing a little ironing to get the flight wrinkles out of my clothes.

I toured the streets on Sat morning in drab and headed for the Holiday Inn where the conference was being held. I spotted a couple of girlz hanging around the front door waiting for the rain to subside so that they could go for a walk. They both looked stunning however were in "business attire" which made them stand out on a Sat. morning.

Inside there were more "ladies" hanging out so I knew that I was in the right place. I followed the signs down the stairs to see a Bar Assn. registration desk? and then looked over and saw the Cal Dreamin desk.

I headed to the desk to register and pick up my ticket for the dinner. When I tried to register I was told that there was no record of my registration (that I had done over the internet with a credit card) I thought  that I had the Visa bill in my hotel room but I wasn't positive so I was told I should buy a ticket and they would straighten it out later. I reluctantly purchased the ticket with cash and headed back to my hotel to get prepped for the evening. (I have still yet to be out en-femm in daylight.)

I was just about ready when the phone rang, it was Kalani and she was running late and getting ready, since she was driving I asked if she would mind also driving Michelle, she agreed and we would meet downstairs. Kalani asked what room I was in and then she came over. I am always apprehensive on these types of meetings. Kalani was lovely! She is petite  and was wearing a stunning red sequined gown making me feel terribly underdressed. Here is a headshot of her...................

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We  headed down to the car and drove towards the Holiday Inn.  Traffic was crazy, but Kalani had obviously spent some time driving in SF (and also in heels!). I was surprised that we were not getting any glares from pedestrians or other cars. It was still afternoon so I knew that when we got out of the car in the "evening wear" that we would get some double takes. We were able to find a parking spot about a block and a half away, locked the car and clicked our heels towards the hotel lobby.

We mingled, Kalani was well know amongst the crowd! She introduced me to Cindy Martin (who is as lovely as her pictures on TGForum) and in turn Cindy introduced us to Jo-Ann Roberts! It was neat at meet the "legends" in person. They were both extremely nice and very congenial!  Michelle was mingling, taking and getting some pictures taken. I went to the bar and got a drink. Kalani had a killer camera and took quite a few pictures. Cindy Martin did take one shot with Kalani and I in it, but has not yet developed the film....I am dying to see that photo!

The entertainment was good, I was pleased to see the lack of lip sync! (I can take a little but not a whole show worth!) Near the end of the night I saw the registrar and showed her my visa bill. She recognized my email address and admitted seeing the original request. I gave her my info and visa number and she said that she would reimburse my account. I trusted that she would and unfortunately did not get her name!  To date this has still never happened, so with the Canadian exchange that dinner cost me $163.00!

Oh Well, I guess you just can't trust everyone in a dress!

Following the festivities everyone was deciding what they were doing and where they were going. Michelle decided to pack it in and gave us her ticket incase we wanted to go on the bus.  The Pub Crawl tickets were to take the girls to a couple of places, but after talking to Kalani we decided to just walk around the corner and head to Kimo's for a drink to chat. We had a drink, were approached by one of the patrons, and chatted for a bit. We decided to give one of the local lesbian bars a try, so we went back to the hotel to dress down a little.   I changed into a short suede wrap around skirt that I had made and headed for the car. We both needed to make a pit stop at an ABM and eventually found one on a corner. I got read because of my leg muscles.....I could hear one guy say to another at the corner, "look at the legs on her!" -( probably a visitor to the city),  the other guy replied "that's a guy not a girl" Surprisingly this did not upset me much, I actually felt good about the compliment from the first guy!

We got to the bar and got lucky with parking again. There was a short line up and then had to show ID. I did not enjoy showing male id en-femme! The place was quite fun and was loaded with girls of all preferences. I got a drink and met up with Kalani on the patio. We met Dale, who was one of the performers in the show and sat and began to chat. The place was full of Queens and CD's. It was great.

We chatted with one of the local GGs who invited us to dance, we did and had a great time. The place closed and we reluctantly returned to our Hotel.

It was a great evening! It was the most fun that I have had en-femme yet. Kalani was a lovely hostess and I hope to go out with her again!