Wednesday, July 25, 2007: Arrival and Comic Con Pre-View Night

We had to get up REALLY early this morning, around 3 AM, and I don’t think any of us really slept well last night, even though we went to bed around 8:00. It was a short hop to the airport and we breezed through the luggage check and security because we were the first in lines at 4:00 AM. Our first flight, to Atlanta was kind of fun. Anna made sure she said, “Ha, Ha! We’re up here and you’re down there!”

The second flight, from Atlanta to LAX was the trial. First, they had us all split up in our seating-- even Emma-- and they didn’t really seem to be sympathetic to the problem of seating a three year old alone. (In fact, they didn’t seem sympathetic to a woman who had lost her five-year old girl, but that’s another matter.) Julie depended on the kindness of strangers to eventually end up with Emma next to her. Anna sat behind her mom, and dad sat behind Anna. The plane’s seats, trays and pockets were pretty disgusting and really needed cleaning. For all that, the girls were great. Anna, especially, was a real trooper.

We’re in Seal Beach now and sitting in Cathy and Bob’s apartment, with a nice California breeze blowing through the screen. We’re off to San Diego now.

Part 2-

While Scott went to Comic Con, the girls and Julie walked around downtown San Diego. After they dropped Scott off at Comic Con, they found a parking garage. From the parking garage, they walked on a walking tour of Embarcadero. They walked by the naval ship yard, the convention center, the Embarcadero Marina, Seaport Village, the tuna shipyard, the USS Midway, and two piers. They then took the ferry to and from the Hotel Coronado. The view on the ferry of San Diego was beautiful. After the ferry, they went shopping at Seaport Village. Here Anna bought a dog and Emma bought a pink elephant. They walked a total of three and half hours. It was a lot of fun, but the girls and Julie were exhausted.

All the time Scott was at the Comic Con Preview tonight he was thinking both, “I can’t believe I’m here again,,” and “I can’t believe that I’m here again!” The crowds are already almost too much, so there’s no telling what Saturday will be like. Getting his pass was a breeze, but Scott freaked a little when he got in a few minutes early and saw Paul Dini sitting at the DC table. Eventually, he got his wits about him and was able to get autographs from Neal Adams and Geoff Johns. One the one hand, there’s lots of new stuff to see and explore, but on the other hand, since this was the second year, it was most almost comforting to know where so many of the booths were located. The thing about comics creators is that it is so easy to like somebody’s work and not have any idea what they look like, but since last year and two conventions in Toronto, there were many people just strolling by that Scott recognized-- Gail Simone, Marv Wolfman, and even Greg Rucka and his family.

We gathered again, using the walkie-takies, at about 8:30 and started to fight the traffic out of the city. It was then that Emma thought she lost her hanky and Scott had to run around looking for it. (“It’s ripped and it’s beautiful,” said Emma.) It turns out she was sitting on it the whole time. We shared the driving tasks coming back to Cathy’s, and worked to keep each other awake while the kids slept in the back seat. We arrived back at Cathy’s at about midnight.

Considering that it was 3:00 AM Eastern, we were going for 24 hours. We all hit the bed hard. It’s a good thing we’re able to get a few hours of sleep because tomorrow is DISNEYLAND!