On the road again: Balticon, day 5

The alarm rang far earlier than I wanted today (when does it not?), but that proved to be a very good thing, because the drive out of Baltimore was the easiest in years.  A few hours later, I was at one of the places I find most relaxing, The Inn at Little Washington.  The small town is delightful, the Inn itself wonderful, and the food of Chef and Owner Patrick O'Connell absolutely scrumptious.  Sitting in the kitchen table, watching the chefs work and enjoying the results of their labors, is a treat every year. 

Each Memorial Day, I think about the people I know and have known who serve or served in the military, giving their precious time and work to that service, sometimes giving their lives.  I have never been in the military, so I have no firsthand knowledge of what they've experienced, but from talking with them, I know the costs have been high.  Very high.

So on this day, I want to thank them, and the many more people I have never met, for all that they have given for the rest of us.  We will never understand all that it has cost them.

On the road again: Balticon, day 5

The morning went to sleep, work, and packing, as well as a few good-byes to folks who passed by.

Then, we headed into the country--specifically, to Patrick O'Connell's wonderful Inn at Little Washington. Along the way, we stopped at a wonderful ice cream shop so new its name was not yet over its door, so I cannot report it here. (I am trying to get it.) The owner makes all his own ice cream and frozen yogurt entirely from local ingredients, and every flavor I tasted was intense and wonderful. I wish him the best.

The Inn is related to a project I'm not yet ready to announce, but it is also simply an exemplar of hospitality and service. The dinner at the kitchen table was as reliably amazing as always. If I ever become an insanely rich bestselling multimillionaire writer, I will go to the Inn to hide away and write.

Work beckons now, so I must go to it.

Tomorrow, the drive home.

On the road again: Balticon, day 5

Too much good food and too much residual energy from all the performing resulted in a very restless night, but I still managed to spend more of it in bed than I do on most nights.

First up in the morning was a panel on violence in SF and fantasy. I wasn't satisfied with how it went, but the audience seemed engaged, so perhaps I should be happy.

After saying goodbye to friends, a three-hour drive deposited me at the doorstep of the wonderful Inn at Little Washington, Chef and Owner Patrick O'Connell's amazing creation. The Inn leaches away tension and replaces it with relaxation, so I was very happy to arrive. Dinner was, as always, amazing.

In a brief late-evening check of personal email before I turned to work, I learned that Children No More had won the Fourth-Day Universe Best Military SF award. What Distant Deeps, the most recent RCN series novel of my friend, David Drake, won the Best Space Opera award. I was happy to learn of both. My congratulations to all the winners and nominees in all the categories. I do have to also thank my friend, Lynn, who took it upon herself to draw my book to the attention of a lot of students; I sincerely doubt CNM would have done as well without all her efforts.

Even on a day that contains several hours of break time, work awaits, so I now return to it.

On the road again: Balticon, day 6

This morning vanished in a blur of sleep, work, packing, and goodbyes. I then drove to the middle of nowhere, where I am now.

Well, to be more precise, I'm in Washington, VA, at The Inn at Little Washington, where I am recharging a bit, writing a bit, and soon heading to enjoy an amazing dinner in its Kitchen Table. I love this place, in large part because there is nothing to do here. (No cell phones work, though the Internet bandwidth is quite good--and comes with the room, of course.) Chef and Proprietor, Patrick O'Connell, has created here a certain kind of perfection. It's not my normal taste, nor at all how I would have done it, but I admire his dedication to his vision, and there is no place quite like it.

I'm heading offline now to prepare for dinner and then to eat a large number of what I expect to be exquisite courses. More on the meal in an update later.

UPDATE: After consuming an enormous tasting menu full of delicious tidbits, I can say with complete confidence that Chef O'Connell and the team here at the Inn have not lost a single step. This is definitely a great place to come if you want a world-class meal.

I can also confidently declare that I am in the grips of a food coma and so will now head offline for the night. Perhaps it was the sixth cheese, or maybe the second dessert course, that did me in.

On the road again: Balticon, day 5

I ended up working very late again last night and so did not get enough sleep; so it goes. Much of the day went to the logistics of travel, from shower to packing to lunch to driving to unpacking. I'm overnighting at The Inn at Little Washington, which as I mentioned in last year's report of my first visit here is simply one of the best places I've ever stayed.

An amazing meal at one of the two kitchen tables ended with a very nice conversation with Chef and Proprietor Patrick O'Connell. Though it began as a social obligation on his part, he lingered far longer than last time because we became absorbed in a discussion first of politics and then of the joys of having total control over certain experiences, him in work he does with the Inn and its various facilities, me in novels. Creative control freaks connecting, I suppose, but I enjoyed the talk very much.

An oddity of the modern world is that I can write this entry, do email, and browse the Web in the comfort of my lovely room in a very rural section of Virginia, but I cannot use my cell phone, because there's no signal for approximately 23 square miles around us (that figure courtesy of the information book in the room).

I must write now and hope for more sleep tonight, so I will attend to that. The book grows--too slowly, but it grows.