Our Room at the US Grant, originally uploaded by chris_wass.

Wednesday morning, I got a little bit of a later start than I wanted to in picking up the gals, but still managed to make my desired 8am mark heading west out of Phoenix. There was a slow patch at the edge of town around an accident, but the rest of the drive was pretty smooth. We stopped in El Centro at the nicely decorated Exotic Thai for a tasty lunch. Though we arrived in San Diego around 2:30, the street was temporarily closed by our hotel, so we had to waste a bit of time until the road cleared. I drove down by the convention center, were we could see people already lining up to get their badges.

We took a few minutes to freshen up in our lovely hotel room, and then headed back out on foot to the convention center. It was wonderful to be out in the mild weather, walking around the kind of city that has the kind of cultural density that was made for walking around in; streets lined with shops, bars, and restaurants. The line for badges moved quickly, and we found ourselves back out in front of the convention center at 4pm with some spare time until the Con opened at 6. Rich and Kate were inside helping a friend set up their booth. The three of us headed back into the gaslamp, ending up at The Whiskey Girl for a couple of $3 pints and 1/2 priced appetizers.