7/30/08: Launch Pad, day 0

Travel day today. Awoke 5am for a 6am cab that actually arrived at 5:50. I don't think anything was left behind in the resulting mad scramble, though I did forget to empty my water bottle, which was duly confiscated by the TSA. Grr.

Uneventful flight to Denver, where I said goodbye to kateyule who is going to spend the next week relaxing and enjoying nature in the vicinity of Pikes Peak. jaylake and I had lunch, then wandered about the airport for some time looking for an unobstructed, working electrical outlet with something resembling seating nearby. We settled for sitting on the hard marble floor behind some garbage cans. What is it with airports and electrical outlets, anyway?

All the Launch Pad folks (including deannahoak, maryrobinette, and (ETA) anghara... I don't think any of the others are on LJ) arrived by 4pm except for Nancy Kress, whose flight was delayed. We piled into a van and were driven by prof_brotherton to Laramie, where we were treated to dinner at the dome-topped Library restaurant (though we had to pay for our own drinks -- no alcohol on the taxpayer's nickel!). After dinner we had a whirlwind tour of the campus, then checked into our rooms.

The dorm is a lot like Clarion West (as it was when I attended, not the sorority house with personal chef those soft kids today have). Hard little beds, hard little chairs, bathroom down the hall. But it's only for a week, and there's Ethernet.

And the stars are gorgeous, even when seen from town. Which is, after all, why we are here.