Sewing Summit, Part 1

Oh. My. Gosh!  Sewing Summit was so incredibly fun!!  I can't wait for next year!

I made my family (husband and son) come with me, figuring that they could play around in Salt Lake while I was in classes all day.  We got to the hotel (Little America, so beautiful!) just after 2 PM on Friday, but the desk guy wouldn't let us check in because our room wasn't ready.  He told us to come back in 45 minutes.

So, since it was late in the afternoon and none of us had eaten anything since the tiny donut we'd had at 9 AM, we decided to go get some lunch.  We walked up the street to this great place, Boston Deli, and ordered our lunch to go.  By the time we got back to the hotel it was after 3.  We waited in line to check in.

When we finally got to the counter, the guy said "Oh, I see you booked a 2 Queen room in the Tower?  Oh I'm sorry, but we don't have any rooms left in the Tower."

WHAT?!  Seriously?  I booked this room before Quilt Market, which was in MAY.  I got a confirmation email with my confirmation number for the 2 Queen room in the Tower on Monday.  I was a little upset.  I let the man know.

"Well, I'm sorry, but your choices are you can either go across the street to the Grand America or take one of our garden rooms."

a) he never said my special rate would transfer to either place
b) I didn't want to have to walk outside the building to get to my room
c) I booked my room 6 months ago so I would have a room in the Tower with everyone else

I was not pleased.  I let the man know.

Luckily, the person working at the station next to him heard what was happening.  He finished with his guest then came to assist.  He told me the same thing.  They didn't have any rooms.  They were sorry.  I could go across the street to the Grand America or take a garden room.  Or, they could give me two single King rooms with an adjoining door in the Tower.

I took the 2 rooms.  They looked something similar to the photo (right), with a massive bed, sitting area, and ginormous bathroom.  It was rather grand.

Munchkin was ecstatic to have his own room, with a giant bed, and a phone on the wall in the bathroom where he could "talk while he went potty."  He was immediately forbidden from touching the telephones.

At 4:30 I went downstairs to the meet & greet.  I was a little overwhelmed.  There were so many people, and I knew I should know at least 10 of them, but I didn't recognize anyone.  And then I bumped into someone I knew, who had people I didn't know with them, and the meeting and greeting actually commenced.

We stood at a small table talking with various people until about 7:30.  It was amazing. It was fun.  It was loud.  And the food was awesome.  Tired, but definitely looking forward to the classes the next morning, my boys and I ate dinner at the Coffee Shop.  The food was pretty dang good.  I had grilled salmon.  It was delish!

Instead of going downstairs for open sewing, I spent the evening with some friends in their room, working on my hexi blocks.  Around midnight I dragged my exhausted self into bed, and fell blissfully asleep until my alarm went of promptly at 6:30 the next morning.

But Saturday is going to have to wait, because I actually took a TON of pictures and they need to be gone through before they can be posted.  Check back tomorrow for that recap! :)

Photos from Little America's website, because I forgot to take my own pictures!