happyAfter breakfast, it was back over to the Marriott for the final day of Detcon 1.
The Fan Tables were playing out their last few hours. I spent a short time sitting behind the SJ2018 table apologizing to
lisa_marli for not volunteering enough time for the San Jose bid.
We did one last quick troll through the Dealers Room. I'm glad we did this because it took us by the Off World Designs table, where they spotted me and reminded me that I'd ordered shirts for Lisa and me for collection at Detcon. I'd spaced this and would have been embarrassed if they had had to ship the shirts to me.
The Exhibits Area included a display about the Tucker Hotel including a challenge to build the hotel from snap blocks.
Maker culture on display included this huge Operation game...
...Restored old radios, electronics to build and play with...
...and places to wreck stuff.
All too soon, it was time for the last program item, the Closing Ceremonies.
It was a full house in the Ambassador Ballroom to say goodbye to Detcon 1. (I'm now even more happy to have been part of one of the fan groups (CanSMOF/Anticipation) that helped fund the rental of the ballroom space; it would have been difficult to do the large events like this otherwise.)
Time travelers who popped in to Detcon 1 directly from Detention (the 1959 Detroit Worldcon) stopped by to say what a good time they'd had, and that they'd be continuing on to the future to the next Detroit WSFS convention.
Co-MC Jim Hines then introduced Detcon 1 Chair Tammy Coxen, who was greeted by a standing ovation and cheers, in which I was happy to join. Lisa and I hadn't planned on actually going to NASFIC, but Tammy talked us into it, and I'm now glad that we did because we had a great time.
After the Guests of Honor gave their final remarks (see my Flickr album for several shots of these), Tammy thanked all of the people who made the convention happen. There were numerous presentations, including the Party Awards, with Best Party going to the KC 2016 team lead by
hazelchaz. (Again, photos on my Flickr album.)
Soon, the Evil Moment arrived, and Tammy brought the virtual gavel down on the 11th North American Science Fiction Convention. After an encore performance of "Where's My Flying Car?" by Filk Guests Bill and Brenda Sutton, the Closing Ceremony was done.
After the Closing Ceremony, Lisa and I headed out to lunch, returning for a third time to the New Parthenon restaurant.
This time we succumbed to touristy temptation and ordered the flaming cheese appetizer, which is cheese flambéd at tableside. (Watch out for the flames!)
It's actually quite good with bread.
Lisa and I both like lamb and ordered the lamb spaghetti, which is huge! I'm glad we had to walk some to get back from Greektown to the Marriott.
By the time we waddled back from lunch, tear-down was nearly done, it apparently having gone pretty smoothly. However, a job turned up that we could do: there were six mobies and a wheelchair than needed to be shuttled down to the "motor lobby" from the third floor so that the vendor could come collect them. Lisa, I, and a young woman whose badge read "Trouble" but was not at all like that drove the mobies carefully and got them to our destination without running down anyone or crashing into anything.
We went up to the Con Suite where the Dead Dog Party was starting. With all the food I ate, I may have taken a nap while sitting on the the sofa, because suddenly the room was full of people.
Later, the Slan Shack down the hall reopened for their Dead Dog Party, and by around 11 PM, nearly everyone still present had moved there.
Geri Sullivan celebrated surviving 60 years with these cakes. I had a small slice myself, although I probably should have not had any, given how good they tasted.
Just before midnight, we bade farewell to everyone (with cries of "see you in London" to some) and hustled down to the People Mover, which closes at midnight on Sunday. There was a guard starting to lock it up, but he said we could still make it, so I dropped quarters into the slots and we trotted up to the platform where there was a train waiting for us. We rode to Joe Louis Arena, where the train stopped and did not appear to want to move. A guard boarded, asked us where we were planning on getting off, and when we told him Cobo Hall (the next stop), he radioed the dispatcher to release our train for one more stop. The train continued, announced that it was going out of service, the guard let us out a side door, and we returned to our hotel.
Our train to Chicago on Monday is at 3 PM. The hotel has allowed me a 2 PM checkout, which is wonderful because it means we don't have to pack up until after breakfast tomorrow instead of rushing around tonight.
I admit that I was was somewhat skeptical of coming to NASFIC and to a great extent originally considered it an excuse around which we could wrap a cross-country train trip. However, it was something much more in the end: a very good and fun convention at which I enjoyed myself a great deal. Tammy and the crew that she recruited deserve all the kudos they can get for having done a fine job with Detcon 1.