Calgary Expo & Banff

Alright, I'll try to wrap this up 'cause it's really gone on longer than I had planned on.
Besides, I'm going to see "Star Trek" this Saturday and I want to be able to talk about that after I watch it.

Sooo....
Not much sleep on Saturday night so on Sunday I was running on fumes.
Thankfully the day was less crowded and therefore less busy.
I grabbed a few people who were volunteering and they were absolutely the best help I could've asked for!
They helped get the lunches out and on time without any problems. YAY!

Palindrome hooked me up and got me a chance to have my picture taken with Jewel Staite.
Thanks man! You're awesome!

I know I look like a dork... but hey, I got my picture with her. I'm a happy camper now.

I also got a few new self-portrait sketches at the show. You can check 'em out here, but here are the artists that drew them:
Sergio Aragones

Dave Johnson

Darwyn Cooke

Bryan Lee O'Malley

Heck! You can go check out all the new sketches I got here.

I went to the auction for the pieces that were in this year's Calgary Expo Artbook to bid on a couple of pieces I had my eyes on. One of them being the Terry Moore piece.
I lost the bid on the second picture I wanted, but after a brief and heated bidding war I won the piece that I really wanted by Terry!
here he is holding it after I won it

It's currently being framed at the moment and will be hanging on my wall soon!

The show wrapped up and everybody went out to a post-show dinner before making the trek out to Banff.

On the way to the lodge, I rode with the Seattle crew (minus Technogreek) and we told some of the most awful, tasteless jokes we could think of. It was good times.

After we got to the lobby to check into our rooms, the kid behind the counter noticed that Josh Ortega was wearing a "Gears of War" T-shirt and commented about it.
When Josh told him, "I'm the guy who wrote the story for that game", that kid practically lost control of all bodily functions.
Then Josh told him who everybody was and the kid geeked out hardcore.
He came up after his shift and hung out with the group that evening and was amazed that he was surrounded by a bunch of comic book professionals. He just kept saying "WOW!".

We went to Canmore on Monday and visited an Ammolite jewelry factory.


Then we had lunch at an incredible beer brewery, the Grizzly Paw. I didn't have any beer, but I did have their hand-crafted root beer which was super-duper!

Above the door of the pub was a warning sign to watch out for bears in town.

It wasn't a joke. The bears have started to get used to seeing people so they aren't afraid to wander around downtown looking for food. In fact ALL of the garbage cans were even bear-proofed to help deter them.
We didn't see any bears on our trip, though.

That evening I watched "Machine Girl" with a few of the guests and laughed our heads off with all the ultra-violent nonsense!

On Tuesday, we went into the town of Banff (for reals, this time).
Technogreek is badass!



It comes in cans?!?



I got dropped off to do some gift buying while others went on to ride the famous gondola.

It was snowing practically the whole time we were in Canmore / Banff and on Tuesday it was not safe to run the gondolas so nobody got to experience it that day.
Instead, they texted me and we met up at another pub for a bite to eat.

Then on to the candy store for... what else? CANDY!!!!

We walked around town some more and I bought a few things for Hotness, my mom, and my niece & nephew that day and then we all headed back to the lodge for a rest.

That evening EVERYBODY headed back into Canmore for dinner at the Grizzly Paw Brewery one more time.

I had an Alberta beef dip with a side of poutine. YUM YUM!
Don't be hatin' the cheesy, gravy goodness!

I also picked up some tasty BBQ sauce that they make there.

Back at the lodge afterwards, everybody was having a good time.
It was the last evening together, and nobody wanted to go to bed.

I played "Rock Band" and "Street Fighter" on the PS3 with a few of the guests.
At one point during a game, Frank Cho walked in wearing a bathrobe (from the room) and watched everybody play for a bit.
Then suddenly, and very non-descriptly, he pulled out a package from his robe pocket and asked "Smoked salmon, anyone?".
Everybody erupted in laughter at the weirdness of it, but Frank just stood there and said, "It's really good. Try some".

After that I went back to my room where a few of the guests were drawing in each other's sketchbooks. Also, Josh Ortega and Liana K. we debating just about ANYTHING that could be debated.
They talked (and drank and talked.....) ALL through the night and into the next day.
It was fun listening to them, but man was I pooped. And I had to catch a plane home that afternoon.

We stayed at the lodge for a while that day packing up.
Some of the folks who hadn't gotten to ride the gondola the day before went back into Banff one more time since it stopped snowing.

Finally we all headed back to Calgary to go to the airport and catch our flights back home.
I remembered to take Dramamine this time, so my airplane ride was just peachy.

We got into Seattle around 6:30 p.m. (local time).
Hotness picked me and couple of other guys up and then dropped me off at my car while she continued on to drop them off where they needed.

I got home. Unpacked most of my bags. Sat down to eat with Hotness.
During dinner, I started slumping over and could barely keep my eyes open.
I finished dinner and went right to bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow and I slept for 12 hours straight!

I took the remaining couple of days of the week off from work to so that I didn't have to "jump into the fray" as soon as I got back.
I paid some bills, ran errands and stuff like that.

It was an awesome time but I'm glad to be back home.
I'm already looking forward to going again next year (hopefully), though.




Well, I hope I didn't bore you to death and I'm sorry it took so long to post about the trip (and that it took so MANY posts to do it).