ConQuest 44 Wines

Here we are in lovely Kansas City, MO, high in a hotel room right across the street from the Kauffman Stadium (and Arrowhead) enjoying the 44th instance of ConQuesT: the science fiction and fantasy convention put on by the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society.

I'm on vacation with the Scotch Man on his birthday weekend. Every Memorial Day weekend brings another year of ConQuest, and since we're both aspiring writers and enjoy sci fi and fantasy, it's a perfect convention for us.

Unfortunately, we didn't come very prepared. Before we even left the hometown of Lawrence, KS, I realized we had forgotten two very important things: food and drink. When we first arrived at the hotel, we paid way too much at the hotel cafe for coffee and snacks. Later that evening, we ventured into the nearby city to stock up on snacks and alcohol for the rest of the weekend.

We drove by three cemeteries as the sun sank lower in the sky, and a nearly full moon began to rise. With the feeling that time was running out (we had just been to a panel about werewolves, vampires, and zombies, so that was still very fresh in my mind) we stopped by Save-a-Lot grocery. We put together a collection of chips, nuts, and other equally unhealthy munchies, and then made our way to the liquor section.

We decided to risk another trip into the oncoming darkness to find a liquor store than to settle for a $4 bottle of refrigerated red wine.

Between the liquor store and the grocery, I have never felt so white in my life. I think the only other white person we saw was a serious biker gang guy. I began to have more realistic fears than supernatural attacks.

Look! Blurry, but I really met him!

We managed to find two bottles of wine, though, one for each night, and a cork screw. We drank the Beringer Friday night when we got back to the hotel - it was young and grape-y and easy to chug - and Saturday night we busted into the Carmenere (almost literally: the cork screw we bought for $3 was poorly made and the cork VERY stuck. It took a sheer force of will and no small amount of cursing and grunting to pry it out so we could drink).

I don't feel like it's fair to judge the Carmenere, which I've never tried before, based on this experience with it, so instead I'll just say we'll drank it and enjoyed the buzz.

It's been an exciting weekend with too much rich food, bad coffee, long panels, two trips up fourteen flights of stairs after tiring of the sickening elevator rides, and brushing elbows with other writers and editors - including Patrick Rothfuss! - and we still have one day left to go. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, aside from Scotch Man's birthday.

My vacation is almost over, but I'm looking forward to going home, sleeping in my own bed, showering in my shower, and going on a diet.

But don't worry. My diet will still include red wine.