A Durham Mini-Con

Early Friday afternoon, Brugger and I loaded up the Rodan Mobile with my books, her art supplies, and a few of our personal items, and then sallied forth on a course for the Millennium Hotel in Durham, NC, the site of Triangle Terror Con. We had a reasonably pleasant, two-hour drive, including a stop for a fun geocache at Shangri-La Stone Village along Hwy 86. It's a fun, intriguing location — a miniature village made of stone — which I've visited a few times before while hunting caches. It was a successful hunt and the only cache I went after on this trip. Time was a bit short.

 

We had decided to make it an overnight trip, so we could do a few Durham things other than the con, and the Millennium made for excellent lodgings. A very comfortable room, a nice bar, and very convenient to I-85 as well as numerous local attractions. We checked in at the hotel, set up my books in the convention area, and then sought refreshment at a somewhat quirky wine bar called delafia. It's located in an old barber shop, and, unless one knows better, you'd think it is a barber shop, since all the original signage remains out front. Go figure. But inside, it's cozy and attractive, and the selection of wine is impressive (they have normal "by the glass" wines, "Weird Shit" wines, and "Unicorn" wines, the meanings of which I'll leave you to figure out). Kimberly and I settled for a couple of the regular "by the glass" wines, and they were danged good. They also had "Big Beans" for snackies, and damn if they weren't a bowl of big-ass beans. And tasty. We recommend them highly.

This is the place.

Big beans

Inside the place

After delafia, we headed to dinner at Bleu Olive, a nice Mediterranean restaurant a short drive up the way. I started with a Greek Mojito, which was tasty and refreshing. Then Brugger and I split a trio of appetizers for our meals — grilled octopus (well, that was for me; the lady didn't care to partake), dolmathes, and spanakopita, all of which were delicious.

 

Once back at the Millennium, we decided to visit their very pleasant bar and have a couple of drinks. This took us until pretty late, so we eventually headed back to our room and crashed.

 

This morning, come 10:30 a.m., we plunked down at my vendor table, ready with a passel of horrific titles to foist on the unsuspecting. For a while, things were slow, then they picked up, and I moved enough books to make the whole day worthwhile, especially since one gentleman had come to the con specifically to meet me and pick up copies of almost all the books I had on hand. Sweet — and most appeciated. Brugger worked on her art for most of the day, and she was kind enough to pick up both breakfast and lunch for us so I could man the table.

 

I did meet actress Linda Miller, of King Kong Escapes fame, and we had a nice conversation. Carl Craig, who starred in Gamera vs. Viras when he was a wee lad was also there, but he was otherwise occupied when I stopped by, so I didn't get a chance to talk with him.

 

Things turned slow during the afternoon, so it felt pretty danged long. At least Kim finished a piece of art she'd been working on for a while, and we both took enough breaks to get in all our daily steps and then some.

 

At 5:30 sharp, we broke down, packed up, and headed to dinner at Hillsborough BBQ Company, which has long been a favorite geocaching lunchtime destination. Their brisket is always wonderful, so I tore into some this evening. Ms. B. went for the pulled pork, which is also incredible.

And then, we headed on home. I'd been a little leery because my informed mail delivery notice showed something from the IRS, and how good can that ever be? Turned out to be a notification of a new fund-matching program, and nothing to get stressed about. Thank Yog for little favors, eh?

 

So, at the end of the day, Triangle Terror Con proved worthwhile, and we enjoyed our various Durham activities, but I don't know that I'll return to the con next year. This looked to be a big weekend for scary events all over, so I may decided to look for something else apt for the season next year.

Linda Miller and Carl Craig at Triangle Terror Con

Ms. B.'s finished piece of art