There were a lot of great things that came out of Worldcon such as networking, people coming to my author reading, and someone asking me to sign his copy of Silent Moon. If someone attends Sasquan at Worldcon or future conferences in Spokane, below are some of the highlights that might be relevant to current or future attendees. I admit, most of these tips and treasures revolve around food because I’m a foodie. Blame it on my Italian heritage.
Food
Golden Coral Steak and Buffet
Okay, I like buffets, but this is beyond my usual nostalgic favorite Izzy’s Pizza. They had me at the sweet potato fries, all day breakfast and incredible selection, but then I saw the chocolate fountain. OMG! Yes, Golden Coral Steak and Buffet is worth the drive from Worldcon for the most impressive chocolate fountain I have ever had. I just realized I should have dipped the sweet potato fries in the cholate fountain! This was the biggest chocolate fountain I have had the pleasure of enjoying. In my novel, WRATH OF THE TOOTHFAIRY and stories that take place in that world, I imagine the chocolate fountain the immortal creatures get in trouble for skinny dipping in is a lot like this–only bigger.
Best Italian with Gluten-free Options
I know the Old Spaghetti Factory is a chain and for that reason many people feel it is inferior, including my Italian mother. However, they have gluten-free options and they have Mizithra cheese. They dish I am talking about is browned butter and grated cheese similar to parmesan but with its own original flavor. It is one of the few Italian dishes my mother doesn’t make and they also have the option to make this dish with bacon and garlic.
Best Bacon
The Davenport Grande Hotel’s restaurant has the best bacon I’ve ever had in a hotel. It was thick, cooked perfectly and probably the same expensive brand free of nitrates that I buy at home. The $17 breakfast buffet was worth it for the bacon.
SFWA Business Meeting
Everyone I told that I wanted to go to the SFWA business meeting said, “Ugh. It will be so boring. You should go to the presentation you want to go to at the same time.” But then I went anyway. Not only did I hear some really great information but it was also catered. Not only did they have coffee and chocolate covered strawberries, but they had these great pastries. One of them was something in between a brownie covered in a fudgy, no bake cookie-like thing. OMG, chocolate-gasm in my mouth.
Best Public Bathroom Facilities
Around the corner of the lobby in the Davenport Grande is the cleanest, fanciest hotel bathroom ever. If the walk hadn’t been so far, I would have used their facility every time.
Depleted Electrolytes and Coconut Water
There conference was so big that it took about 15 minutes to get from one end of the conference to the other if I didn’t get lost between panels and longer if I did. I was getting a lot of exercise powerwalking up and down flights of stairs and across length of the maze aka conference. My body felt like it was being weighed down by bricks—well, really my purse, Worldcon bag and crafts supplies for costume/craft presentations—and my leg muscles were cramping. I felt severely dehydrated like I’d done intense exercise in the heat though I was fairly cool and I’d only powerwalked up and down stairs with weighted bags for 20 minutes 8 times from Wednesday thru Friday. I didn’t want to drink a Gatorade and drink all that sugar unless it was something I really liked, so I went to a grocery store near my hotel and had a coconut water instead which also had electrolytes. It did the trick! I had so much energy Saturday and didn’t have leg cramps or a headache. Yay for electrolytes and coconut water.
Other Fun and Useful Things
I so much appreciated the friendly convention center/hotel staff standing in hallways who were always friendly and helpful directing human traffic and answering questions, especially the nice older woman who gave me directions about 6 times on Friday for each panel I went to that I couldn’t figure out where it was on the map. After the third time that day, she looked at me coming and said, “What room can I help you find now?”
That really nice older man who let me store my heavy back of craft supplies in programming, so I didn’t have to carry it around with me the entire time before my presentations on steampunk jewelry making and hair fascinators.
There were also some great panels I went to, networking opportunities I created for myself and things I wish I had done differently (like bringing my neti pot to fight the bad smoke conditions from the fires around Spokane) but those are topics for another blogpost.
If you enjoyed these tips, consider other articles that might be of beneifit such as:
Five Tips for Attending Norwescon
http://sarinadorie.com/writing/blog/five-tips-for-attending-norwescon
Or my next post on Dinner with an Editor at Worldcon: C.C. Finlay