Comic Con 2017

I broke my daily blogging streak because of Comic Con, but I’m back now, and to make up for it, I will inflict you, dear reader, with a Comic Con diary (the equivalent of the old slide show presentations of family trips).

First, a travel tip. Take a photo of where you parked. I learned this the hard way.

Beautiful Las Vegas McCarran airport, before you end up in a grimy terminal filled with slot machines.

Book pickings are slim at the airport stores, but I did snag this for some flight reading.

San Diego airport doesn’t have slot machines, but they do have art and books. Right out of the gate, I walked by their sci fi exhibit. Bradbury, Heinlein, H. G. Wells…

The hotels are hip, too (although in my experience Portland has the best hotel service). The everpresent greeter at the Sofia.

Quick bite at Waters to relax and enjoy the San Diego weather before heading into the mealstrom.

Checked in at the con. It’s a very efficient process if you know exactly where to go, and I could tell most people didn’t.

There’s not much to do until Preview Night opens. I hung out at my sister’s table in Artist Alley.

If only the exhibit area was like this every day.

I go to Comic Con these days as much to see San Diego as the con itself. While walking around, I passed by a WeWork, who’ve done an impressive job amassing a real estate empire based on people who actually want to spend all day in closed spaces together. Nice business model.

More interesting, Little Italy, which doesn’t really seem all that Italian, anymore, but you can get gelato, pizza and coffee and check out some art galleries and artsy shops.

My favorite part of San Diego and thus Comic Con is the Cat Cafe, which has become a chill place to hang out and meet people during Comic Con. They take reservations and charge $15 during Comic Con, but it’s for a good cause (these cats are all up for adoption). And you get a drink.

Another favorite stop is the San Diego Central Library. Comic Con has filled the capacity of the San Diego convention center years ago, but they’ve compensated by spreading out to venues around downtown, including the library, which holds sessions related to education on the scenic top floor.

The library also has a nice store where I found a fun cat book for kids, which I donated to the Cat Cafe. Turns out the author is local to San Diego and was doing a signing at the con, so I was able to talk to her, and maybe she and the cafe can do something together. Full circle!

I can take only so much of the con crowd, though, so I spend a lot of time at the neighboring hotels, where they show movies and run a blood drive. Pro (and non-Pro) tip: take a snack break at the Con Suite.

Of course, I couldn’t leave without gettin a cosplay pic.

Back to San Diego airport, which is not a bad place to hang out for a while.

Downtown San Diego is somewhat bookstore challenged, but the airport has Warwick’s. When’s the last time you saw an airport bookstore that has a science fiction section?

My routine there is to buy a book at Warwick’s and then a snack at Elegant Desserts (I was disappointed they didn’t have anything from the Donut Bar).

Back at McCarran, which doesn’t have a sci fi exhibit, but does have some history stuff, like this classic car that used to tool around the airport before it was named McCarran.

See you next year, San Diego.