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I spent the weekend in Boise, Idaho, for the
Murder In The Grove Mystery Conference. I've never been in Boise and I had an awesome time.
The trip started with more adventure than usual as I flew with my critique partners, Margie and Tom, in their slick Lancair airplane. A long time ago I was a pilot in the Army and I forgot a crucial aspect about flying...the weather! On Thursday we waited until noon to let the winds settle. We then tried to poke our way through a cold front and stopped in Cheyenne, WY, to wait out a snow storm. Afterwards it was into the air again. The Lancair was a cozy ride, a VW bug is palatial by comparison. (Avoid Taco Bell before you go.) The low clouds meant we had to fly on instruments at high altitude and it was COLD. Margie and I bundled up in blankets. We arrived later than we wanted but were treated to a beautiful night vista of Boise when landing at the airport. After two gloriously sunny days in Boise, on the ride back it rained, naturally.
Here's Tom, Margie, and their son Erik (our copilot)--in the rain.
What would a writers' conference be without martinis? (At ten bucks a pop which is why I got home broke.)
Here's the bar at
Hotel 43 and the atmosphere practically purrs.
Paying the lunch tab at the funky bistro Protos:
Dinner in the Basque quarter meant the restaurant Leku Ona with plenty of schmoozing, mojitos, and paella:
When you're a famous author like our headliner
Robert Crais, the awards luncheon table centerpiece includes free copies of your novels:
Here's a shot of the hotel lobby.
What's absent from the picture is the drama that I just missed shooting. There was a wedding party earlier in the evening and I saw a young woman in a bridal dress sobbing on one of these chairs. Another woman on a floor below me was telling her to stop crying and said she was on her way down to cuddle. Then another woman came from the bar and took the woman in the dress away. The "cuddle" woman arrived and started cursing at the first woman, then went back into the elevator. You fill in the blanks.