More Dancing

Terri called this morning at 6:35 a.m. When my phone rang, I thought it was my alarm, so I tried to hit snooze. It quit ringing, but then Ken said he had heard someone say hello. Sure enough, Terri had just called, so I called her back, still only half awake. She wanted to say goodbye--they were on their way to Tokyo. Hope they had a comfortable trip. It's hard to think of them being so far away again for three years.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Convention Center on the 10:00 a.m. shuttle. The ride was on time, the driver was friendly, and we got to the dance in one piece--all to the good. The schoolbus suspension leaves something to be desired.

When we arrived at the Challenge hall, we found out that C-1 was scheduled from 10:00 to 12:00. We saw Kit and Marty, two of our friends from the Rio Grande Valley, and several couples we had danced with last year either at AACE or Nationals in Detroit. Our first square included a very weak couple, so we ended up standing around most of the tip, but later we had more success.

When the session ended, we went to the Vendor hall. We saw lots of square dance attire and shoes for sale, but nothing we needed. I was looking for a black short skirt of the sort that I could wear for other things and not just square dancing. We don't need attire in the Rio Grande Valley--all the Advanced and Challenge sessions are casual dress. The only thing we really need square dance attire for is something like Nationals, where "proper square dance attire" is required for the evening dances.

We went outside and found a wall to sit on while eating our pb&j lunch. We watched the seagulls and the ducks in the river. There are not many benches in the Riverfront Park area. After lunch we danced in the Advanced hall planning to dance from 1:00 to 3:00 because the Challenge hall was dancing C-2. We ended up leaving at 2:00 because an Intro to A-1 hour started, and a flood of plus dancers arrived.

We walked over towards the C hall and sat at some tables in the registration area, chatting with Max and Susan. Ron and Margie and Ruth and Jerry joined us, and we all went to the C hall from 3:00 to 5:00. Then home for supper.

This evening we went to the Advanced hall and danced a tip before going to the Challenge hall, where C-1 was called from 8:00 to 9:00. The A hall was extremely crowded. One square was even dancing outside the door, on the carpet in the hallway.

C hall--Klaus and Ushii (from Germany) are in the far square.

Scott Byars calling C-2 for one square in the C hall this evening

Ed and Marlyn and Wes and Jenske went to Grand Coolee Dam this afternoon for a tour of the dam and the evening light show, so we didn't end up dancing with them today. Maybe tomorrow.