I just returned from the STEMtech conference in Kansas City. What a weekend. I left early on Saturday morning and didn't realize it was a Mizzou football weekend until I got caught up in bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to Columbia. The tiger tails hanging out of the back of almost every SUV on the road was a giveaway to the destination of the heavy traffic.
When I got to the convention center, I was dumbfounded to find this load of boxes sitting in my booth. I thought the teamsters had made a mistake and given me someone else's stuff. Turned out to be all mine (literally every box and case you see in this picture). To top it off, my partner was still stiting at the airport in Oregon - his flight got canceled.
I worked the entire day and got everything set up. I should get a raise, don't you agree??? I think it looks pretty good.
I got a couple hours free on Monday afternoon, so I decided to do some exploring. We were staying in the Sheraton Crown Center hotel. I found out later that this was actually the old Hyatt Regency where the walkways collapsed in 1981 - creepy. They've built connecting skywalks between the Sheraton and Westin Hotels, Crown Center, and Union Station (shown above). I used them a few times, but it was such a nice day that it was easier to just walk outside.
Crown Center was pretty busy the whole time I was there. Being Halloween, there were lots of people (children and adults) trick-or-treating the shops. This was my favorite shop - Holiday Magic. I would have taken this butler home with me, but he was kind of big to fit in the car. That's a skull on his serving platter.
Right across from Crown Center was Legoland. I headed over there to check it out, but right when I got to the door, 4 busloads of school kids pulled up. I probably should have blended in with the group, because teachers get in free with kids ($19 if you're on your own).
They had a 4 foot tall mini-fig made entirely out of LEGOs in the lobby. No robots, though, that I saw.
I walked down to the Power & Light District to have lunch at the Gordon Biersch Microbrewery. I had the Marzen beer (just as good as the microbrews in Oregon in my opinion), a cheeseburger, and garlic fries. Yes, their fries are dredged in minced garlic before deep frying - very tasty, but I was chewing gum all night when I went back to the exhibit hall.
As I was headed back to the convention center, I stumbled upon the old Bob Jones shoe store. I can't believe this place is still in business with the same cigar store Indians out front. My mom used to bring up here every year to buy our back-to-school shoes.
