Special Notice

I have kind of semi-retired on my traveling and going to science fiction and space events.
Therefore, I have limited most of my travels to within Camden County and Burlington County, NJ and Bucks County, PA.
As for SF cons and space events, I am mainly going to Philcon.
If you read my past publications and blogs, you can see that I have traveled through much of the USA and Canada as well as going overseas--especially to England.  I have also gone to many different kinds of science fiction conventions and space exploration events.
Nevertheless, if something special happens outside of these counties, I will attend  that event.
I will not fully retire!

New Jersey Counties I Visited

      When I turned 50 in 2006, I decided to visit 12 places each year in my home state of New Jersey. Therefore, in this order, I visited and wrote about the following:
2006: I visited 12 major attractions in different parts of NJ and wrote about them in The State I’m In, Issue #1.
2007: I visited more major attractions, and the reports about them appeared in The State I’m In, Issue #2.
2008: I visited even more major attractions that appeared in The State I’m In, Issue #3.
2009: 12 places in Atlantic City in The State I’m In, Issue #4.
2010: 12 places in Sussex County in The State I’m In, Issue #5.
2011: 12 places in Morris County in The State I’m In, Issue #6. 

     Starting in 2012, I started a twice a year publication called The Column from 2012 through 2019. In those issues I wrote about visiting 12 places, six places in each issue, about a different county in NJ—and about other places outside of NJ:
2012: Warren County
2013: Somerset County
2014: Hunterdon County
2015: Passaic County
2016: Bergen County
2017: Hudson County
2018: Essex County
2019: Union County

     I didn’t go anywhere in 2020, but I made up for it in 2021 and 2022, and those reports are in Dotty’s Dimensions Blog. 

Early Childhood Places

     Hello! Although I was technically born in Audubon (Camden County), New Jersey, in a small hospital, my family and I lived in Clementon, NJ. Recently, I visited some places my parents used to take me often during my childhood in the 1960s: Clementon Park, Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, and Berlin Farmers’ Market. Therefore, this will not be so much as a travelogue as it will be a comparison of then and now.  

     Saturday, June 18, 2022: I haven’t been to Clementon Park, 144 Berlin Road, Clementon (Camden County)(856-783-0263) since the 1980s, and it, as well as the downtown, had changed a lot! I grew up in Clementon. Back then, in the 1960s, Clementon had a lively downtown with several retail and other businesses along Berlin Road and an art deco cinema. In addition, there was Clementon Amusement Park. This park, founded in 1907, was one of the few end-of-the-trolley (tram) line parks that the local transit company built to increase ridership on weekends. Of course, by the 1960s, those in power removed the trolley (tram) line and people arrived either by bus or car. Back then, I remember the admission being free because you paid by the tickets. My favorite rides then were the large carousel, the roller coaster called the “Jack Rabbit,” and the Flying Saucers—cars suspended by cable that circled around, and others. The park also included carnival games, fun houses, and miniature golf, as well as an arcade, a beach for swimming in Clementon Lake, and entertainment by way of a circus on certain days. Nowadays, there has been an admission price to enter the park, and the park has been completely remodeled. Where the main midway was, has now been a water park called Splash World. (No more swimming in the lake.) Here, I noticed different water attractions and rides that I’ve seen in other water parks: slides, inner-tube rides, wave pool, and areas where one could be dumped with water, etc. The main midway has been relocated to another area, and I noticed that there were less rides. While they did keep a few of the older rides, most of the other rides were either new rides or newer versions of older rides. They also had carnival-styled games and an arcade with mostly computerized games. (No more pinball machines.) Overall, this park and downtown Clementon has been a work in progress. Back in the 1970s, those in power tore down most of Clementon’s downtown in the name of “Urban Renewal”--that never came about. The result was mostly an empty downtown until the 1990s when a more modern shopping strip plaza got built on one side of Berlin Road. In time a few other businesses arrived downtown, but the town has still been lacking something. (There are plenty of websites about what happened to Clementon.) I did enjoy seeing this park on a recent visit, and hopefully, another generation will build memories about this place. 

      Tuesday, June 21, 2022: Unlike Clementon Park, I did visit Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, 4 Sawmill Road, Medford (Burlington County), NJ (856-983-3329) last year. (I have a report about it on the My Blog section on my website from August 2021.) Nevertheless, last year’s visit was not my first visit to here. Before 1997, this center was strictly owned by the Woodford family. In 1997, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection offered Woodland Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge a “Green Acres” grant to help preserve its land and buildings. My visit this year wasn’t too different from last year, except I saw a different video in the Visitors Center. Anyway, since I was a child, the NJ Pinelands, especially in Burlington County, was almost a second home to me! We used to camp almost every year—sometimes a few times in a year—at Bass River State Forest, and take day trips to other areas of the Pinelands throughout the year. Some of these places included Batsto Village, a village dating as far back as the 1700s in Wharton State Forest; Atsion Lake, a lake I used to swim in located in another section of Wharton State Forest; and the former Lebanon State Forest—nowadays renamed Brendan Byrne State Forest, and especially Whitesbog Village, a company town founded by the White family in 1870s that the state restored to its early 20th century look. I have revisited many Pinelands places last year, and I wrote about them in My Blog. There has been so much to the NJ Pinelands, and my family and I have been to many places there in the 1960s and ‘70s. I would suggest you Google “NJ Pinelands” for more information.

     Thursday, June 23, 2022: From as far as I remembered, my parents shopped and browsed at Berlin Farmers’ Market and took me along! We also did other stuff in Berlin (Camden County), NJ because it was next to Clementon, NJ. We used to eat at the Berlin Diner which remained but currently owned by different people. Sometimes we shopped in downtown Berlin. Nowadays, their downtown hasn’t been as lively as it used to be in the 1960s, but it has had more to it than Clementon’s downtown. Because they didn’t get the “Urban Renewal” treatment like Clementon, several of the original buildings downtown have still been standing. Then once-in-a-while, we visited Berlin park, a park run by Camden County that contained nature trails, tennis courts, and a playground. Later, during the mid-1970s, we moved to Berlin. I lived there for about five years, and my parents lived there until 1988. On the date above, I visited Berlin Farmers’ Market, 41 Clementon Road, Berlin (856-767-1246) for the first time since 2019. This farmers’ market has been one of the oldest (founded in 1940) and one of the largest markets of its kind in Southern NJ. The market started by selling livestock and produce. By the time I started going here in the 1960s, this market no longer sold livestock, but they still sold produce and other merchandise, both edible and non-edible inside the building and outside. I also remember watching the auctions both inside and outside. Although the auctions have been gone along with the asphalt floors inside (They are tile now.), the stores selling different kinds of merchandise have still been here. While some stores have remained for years, plenty of others have changed. On some weekends, as many as around 700 outside vendors sold a multitude of merchandise. A few years ago, the owners of Columbus Farmers’ Market in Burlington County bought the Berlin Farmers’ Market, and in my opinion, the interior of the indoor market lost its rustic look, but I still found walking through here interesting.  

           

 

My future plans

      Since the covid crises in 2020, I stayed reclusive. Then, in 2021, I started doing day trips within NJ and one to Valley Forge, PA, as well as attending two science fiction conventions: Capclave in Maryland and Philcon in Cherry Hill, NJ. 

      After this, I wrote about my trips in the My Blog section of my website and decided to just do that with future trips--with the exception of putting out a one-shot publication in the near future. 

Turning 40

After 40 in 1996:

     As I said in earlier essays, I didn’t cover every trip and SF con, only those that had some mention in a professional publication. The others places I went to but didn’t mention usually ended up in fan publications.

     Again, as I said before, I still did my SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) visits a few times a year each to New York City, Philadelphia, and within New Jersey as well as once a year to Washington, DC, and some parts of these trips ended up in pro publications and others in fanzines.

     Anyway, the first main trip I took after turning 40 was to Orlando, Florida, to visit Disney-MGM Studios (nowadays, Disney Hollywood Studios) and Universal Studios/Orlando. On day one, I visited Disney MGM Studios. On the way to this park, the shuttle driver told me that as far as he was concerned MGM stood for “Money Grabbing Mouse” because even if you just dropped people off in the parking lot, you had to pay for parking. That was why I had to pay more for a ride and a drop off/pick up to the Disney parks than I would the next day to go to Universal Studios. Anyhow, the first thing I saw was this theme park’s version of Main Street: It looked like a scaled-down version of Hollywood Blvd. from the 1920s and ‘30s—as I’ve seen in pictures. A replica of Grauman’s Chinese Theater was the entrance to the Great Movie Ride. Other attractions that I saw were the Magic of Disney Animation, Muppets in 3D, a film tribute to Walt Disney, and a car stunt show. I looked at a fake NYC street with the fronts of buildings, and other building fronts on other streets. For much of my time here, I spent it walking around and looking at the different theme areas. I was impressed with what I saw.
     The next day I went to Universal Studios Orlando. This park, too, had a midway of mostly Art-Deco buildings that imitated Hollywood from the 1920 and ‘30s. Unlike the California park, this park did not have a tram ride around studio back lots and stops for different special effects. Instead, this park made those special effects into different rides. Doing it this way took up more time to see those effects, and I suspect that the reason they didn’t have a tram ride at this park was to “out-Disney” Disney. The effects were just as good as in CA, and so were the buildings where they demonstrated how they did those behind-the-scenes special effects as well as the “ride the movies” rides. I especially likedET’s ride—in both parks—CA and FL. Nevertheless, while I did enjoy Universal Orlando, I liked the CA park better—maybe it had to do with the weather in CA and the layout of the park. Both of these parks in FL—Disney MGM and Universal--had their share of entertainment as well. Overall, I enjoyed my short trip to FL.

     On Memorial Day Weekend, I went to my first International Space Development Conference (con) (ISDC). This event took place in NYC at the Hyatt Hotel next to Grand Central Terminal. When I talked to a few different people in the past connected to ISDC, they told me that unlike other ISDCs, this con wouldn’t have any evening programming because being in NYC, most people expressed a desire to go out and see shows and other nightlife in the city. Therefore, I did the same. For the four nights I was there, I saw a 3D-IMAX film, Across the Sea of Time: NY in 3D; an Off-Off-Broadway show, Say Darling; an Off-Broadway show, Take it Easy; and a Broadway show, Grease. First, the film was about a boy coming to the USA for the first time, and his impressions of NYC. Second, the Off-Off-Broadway show was a musical comedy about an Iowa author who traveled to NYC to help the producers who bought his book to make it into a play. Third, the Off-Broadway show was a musical comedy about the romances of soldiers and the women they left behind during WWII. Fourth, the Broadway show was a musical comedy of the high jinx of teenagers from the 1950s. This show was a revival of the original show that came out in the 1970s. During the four days I was there, I was at ISDC sitting down and listening in on different talks, discussions, and presentations in different tracks: rugged individualism, space life sciences, large-scale programs, technology frontiers, education, science fiction (SF), etc. Later, I bought a few items in the dealers’ room—T-shirt and books, and I saw some lovely space art in the art show. I also saw some astronauts, especially Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. To paraphrase what I said in DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS: THE PREFACE: It was like taking the space science tracks of different SF cons, and rolling them into one big con. I was very impressed with this event.

     Shortly after this, I experienced one of the saddest times of my life on June 11, 1996, when my mother, Julia Kurtz (1925-1996) passed away. Like my father, she was a lifelong smoker; she told me that she started at 16 and stopped in 1988. Again, similar to my father, it was too little too late.

     I kept myself busy, and in July, I attended Phorolic Con in Mt. Laurel, NJ. I liked these “relaxie” SF cons. I would watch some of their limited programming, go to parties in the con suite, look around the art show, and browse in the dealers’ room. Because the programming was limited, I was free to socialize with other SF fans in ways I usually didn’t at bigger SF cons.

     In early November, I took a short trip to the Province of Quebec, Canada. While there, I visited the cities of Montreal and Quebec City. I remember taking a bus tour of Montreal that showed us the sights of the old town and made a few stops there, and then, the tour took us to some newer parts of town and a stop at Mount Royale Park—the city’s namesake. The only French I had to remember was “Parlez vous Anglaise?” (“Do you speak English?”)
     In Quebec City, it was a bit different because as I went to a fast food place, I asked the clerk the same thing. Instead of answering me in English, this clerk asked me, “Parlez vous Francaise?” With this, I answered a sentence that I learned in college when I took French One: “Je nais par pas bien Francaise. Pouvez vous m’aider, sil vous plait?” (“I don’t speak French well. Could you help me, please?”) Maybe it was my accent, but her next question to me, in English, was “Are you American?” When I answered yes, she went on to speak to me in English. As I sat down, I then realized why she didn’t want to speak in English at first. She must have thought that I was a Canadian who didn’t want to speak French. (People have told me that some of the French-Canadians will not talk to other Canadians in English as a reminder that Canada has two official languages: English and French. With Americans, however, they have no quarrel, and they will speak English to them.) Otherwise, here, too, I took a bus tour of Quebec City that included seeing and stopping at the Old Lower Town—dating back to 1608, Old Upper Town, and other parts of town, especially the Plains of Abraham that ended the Seven Year War between Britain and France.

     A few weeks later, I was at Philcon at the Adams Mark Hotel on City Line Ave, in Philly, and like other general SF cons, I listened in on panels in different tracks: SF reading, writing, and art as well as costuming, space science—especially space exploration, and other subjects. I also visited the dealers’ room, art show, and con suite. At night, I would go to parties, and see the masquerade on Saturday night. By my way of thinking, this was a good SF con.

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1997:

     I started the year by going to Costume Con ’97 in Baltimore, MD, at the Lord Baltimore Hotel. Similar to other Costume Cons that I’ve been to, the activities at night included a SF and fantasy masquerade on one night, a historical masquerade on another night—both historically accurate and historical interpretation. (If a contestant wears a historically accurate costume, then he or she would wear an outfit where the materials of the costume—including the undergarments—and fastenings are authentic for that period. In a historical interpretation costume, the person’s costume could look accurate, but he or she could get away with wearing modern underwear and modern fastenings—if they were hidden—otherwise, that person would find himself or herself in fantasy.) Other night activities included hanging out in the con suite and going to room parties. During the day, I listened in on panels and talks on how to dress from head to toe. I also visited a few places in Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery and the MD Historical Society. I took many pictures of people in costumes as well as costumes on mannequins and dolls during my time there.

     In June, I took a short trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. While there, I took a bus tour of the city that included a stop at Fort George on Citadel Hill, and a few other places. I also enjoyed the best fish & chips I ever had at the Split Crow Bar & Grill on the waterfront.
     The next day, I took the oldest continuously salt-water ferry across Halifax Harbour to Dartmouth. Here, I walked over to a history museum of that city in a black-marble-front modern building. Inside, I learned about, via exhibit items, videos, pictures, and texts, the natural and human history of Dartmouth—and its connections to Halifax. Then, I ended the day walking along the waterfront before taking the ferry back to Halifax.

     That July, I went to the last Phrolic Con. According to a few people I talked to, if the new hotel management had its way, there wouldn’t be a con for that year in the hotel. This relaxie SF con, however, did go well.

     For a few days in September, I revisited San Francisco. I remember getting on the plane in Philly and hearing the pilot say that we will be going soon, but she’s having trouble starting the engine! After a few minutes, she cancelled the flight, and we got on another plane to Chicago and made a connection from there to San Francisco. On the flight to Chicago, the pilot warned of a bumpy flight. Now I didn’t mind turbulence as long as the flight crew walked around the aisles, but I did get nervous when the captain ordered the flight attendants to sit down. It happened on this flight for about 30 minutes or so. While in the bathroom in O’Hara, I noticed that the seat of my trousers ripped, so I put my sweater around my waist to cover it. Then, the flight to San Francisco went smoothly, and once we landed and took the shuttle to Union Square, I walked to our hotel on Grant St. in Chinatown, check into my room, and I changed my trousers. After this, I walked back to Union Square and to Macy’s to buy another pair of pants. (One thing that surprised me, just like the last San Francisco trip, was seeing palm trees this far north.) The next day I revisited Chinatown. This time I visited the Chinese-American Historical Society museum where by way of pictures, exhibit items, and texts, I learned a bit more about what people of Chinese descent had to face in San Francisco and the USA. Then, I walked around the neighborhood and browsed at shops not only on Grant St., but also off the tourist path on Stockton St. This was where it seemed that more of the locals shopped. Besides the usual souvenir and gift shops that were similar to the shops on Grant St., Stockton St. also had stores selling household items, cleaning products, appliances, food, etc. Because I was staying right in Chinatown, I ate Chinese food at different kinds of restaurants: regular restaurants, dim sum houses, noodle houses, and dumpling houses. I would even go to the Chinese bakeries and buy either a custard tart, a sesame ball (a rice pastry ball filled with sweetened bean paste and coated with sesame seeds), an almond cookie, or an anisette wafer (similar to Italian pizzelles). Then, I would sit in a nearby park and watch the residents practice Tai Chi. Of course, I noticed the pagoda-shaped roofs on some buildings, on telephone booths, and the Chinese lanterns hanging in some places.
     On another day, after I revisited the San Francisco Shopping Center and its spiral escalators, I walked around the neighborhood where I noticed a lot of scaffolding and walked into the Ansel Adams Center. Those in power were restoring this place and only one of the five galleries stayed opened to the public. Here, I saw the black and white photos that Adams took, especially of national parks, and I saw other pictures that other photographers from his time (1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s) took: Dorothea Lang, Margaret Bourk-White, etc. Then, I rode the California St. Cable Car back and forth. (If you want to ride a cable car, this line is much less crowded than the other two: Powell & Mason and Powell & Hyde.) 
     The next day, I went to Fisherman’s Wharf. This time, I visited the Maritime Museum and toured a few of the historic ships and a ferry docked nearby. Even though it was commercial, I did walk through The Cannery and Ghirardelli Square. (Yes, I did buy some Ghirardelli chocolate.) Then I bought some sourdough at Boudin Bakery. Nevertheless, I saved money by walking a few blocks south and had my main meal at an Italian restaurant in North Beach. (The cost of a meal here would be about the same as a seafood sandwich at Fisherman’s Wharf.)
     Finally, I spent my last day at Golden Gate Park and visited the CA Academy of Sciences. This museum covered mostly natural science subjects with an emphasis on the natural flora, fauna, and other stuff of CA as well as a planetarium and an aquarium. I especially remember riding the earthquake simulator. Then, the flight back to Philly went smoothly at first, but a few hours later, we hit some turbulence that required the flight attendants to buckle up until about a half hour before landing.

     A month later, I met John Inman, the actor who played Mr. Humphries on the BBC comedy TV show from the 1970s and ‘80s, Are You Being Served? (AYBS). To back up on my story a bit—an editor friend of mine, Deena, phoned me and asked me if I ever saw AYBS, and I answered yes. I’ve been seeing this show since 1991. She told me that many SF fans also liked that show, and asked if it were possible for me to find out more about the show, especially about John Inman. I said that I’d try. Meanwhile, I have been corresponding to a few people in the UK who shared an interest in SF, so I asked them about AYBS and John Inman. One of them told me that her cousin was married to the president of the John Inman Fan Club, Carol. Therefore, I wrote to Carol and mentioned my pen pal, and about the many SF fans that liked AYBS and the Mr. Humphries character. Carol wrote back and made me an offer: She said that she liked reading travelogues and her husband liked SF and she heard about my writings from her husband’s cousin. Maybe I could swap my writings for her John Inman Fan Club newsletters. I agreed. Then, when I heard that Inman was going to appear at the Willow Grove Park Mall, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, I went to see him at the Store of Knowledge. When John Inman found out who I was, he said that he enjoyed reading my travel and SF event writings that Carol mailed to him. This surprised me! I never knew that Carol mailed my writings to him. I thanked him and went on my way. The next week I visited DC where I saw the IMAX film Cosmic Voyage at the National Air and Space Museum. Then the next day, I saw John Inman at the Pentagon City Mall, Arlington, Virginia, and this time, he suggested that I should write my own newsletter. He seemed to me like a very nice and polite person.

     That November, I went to Philcon and did the usual activities of listening in on panels, watching the masquerade, buying stuff in the dealers’ room, looking at the art show, and going to parties at both the con suite and in different rooms. I also met some people from Balticon who didn’t usually go to Philcon, but they were there to sell memberships for the 1998 Balticon. Then they said that it was going to be a tough sell because the World SF Con or Worldcon would be in Baltimore in 1998, and many people might try to skip Balticon for the Worldcon. Because I haven’t been to Balticon for a few years, I bought a membership.
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1998:

     I got a new job as an assistant manager for a book distributing company in Camden, NJ. Therefore, with a better pay cheque, I could continue doing my travels.

     I went to Balticon on Easter Weekend at the Omni Hotel in downtown Baltimore. On Friday, after I registered, I went to a few panels about space exploration and later, the con suite, but not much else. Saturday, however, was very busy, and I visited the art show, and went to several panels dealing with space science, costuming, SF writing, and art. That night I took pictures of the costumers from the Masquerade. For Sunday, the con became much less busy, and I sat in on two panels about costuming and 3D art, and bought a few books in the Dealers’ Room. Compared to other local cons, Balticon still had a lot going for it, but compared to past Balticons that I’ve been to, Friday and Sunday didn’t have too much on its programming—but I assumed that this had to do with the upcoming Worldcon in Baltimore.

     Of course, the big SF con for me for 1998 was Bucconeer or the 1998 Worldcon. I stayed at the Days Inn because it was the closest hotel to the Baltimore Convention Center and registration. After I registered, I paid a visit to the very large con suite with its share of foods—and not just snack foods, and plenty of soft drinks in many flavors. I spent the next four days going to panels in different subjects: space science, costuming, SF writing, reading, art, fandom, and so on. When I wasn’t in panels, I listened to some filk singing (putting SF fannish words to popular tunes—mostly folk tunes), went to parties, visited the Art Show room, and the Dealers’ Room. The Art Show room was about the size of a mid-sized art gallery, and the Dealers’ Room reminded me of a flea market—but with mostly newer merchandise. Then there was the exhibit area where I saw texts, pictures, and items having to do with past Worldcons from the first Worldcon in 1939 to the previous year, past SF conventions, SF clubs, and items having to do with space exploration. One area also displayed past prize-winning costumes. The two biggest events were the Masquerade and the Hugo Awards Ceremony. (The Hugo Awards were named after Hugo Gernsback [1884-1967], editor of the first SF magazine,Amazing. He also coined the term “scientifiction” in 1926–later changed to SF in 1930. Fans who attended Worldcon could vote in advance for the Hugo Awards. Then according to the votes, the committee gave awards for the best novel, novella, novelette, short story, and other categories.) If that weren’t enough, I also noticed a fanzine reading room with fanzines (amateur publications) going back to about 1940 and up to more recent times. What I remember about the Masquerade was as I was sitting near the front, close to the stage, the emcee, Marty Gear, leaned on the table holding the costume awards. Suddenly I heard a crash and Marty fell backwards, and some of the awards crashed. During the contest, one group of contestants came on stage riding a bike that had a motorcycle-looking body. Then their cycle caught itself in a groove on stage, and the cycle fell forward—riders and all!  Later, I learned that Philadelphia won the bid to hold Worldcon in 2001. The next day, I paid for memberships for the 2001 Worldcon. Finally, I stayed at Worldcon 1998 until the Closing Ceremonies and had a great time.

     I also had a chance to see John Inman again for three times in 1998. First, I saw him again at Willow Grove Park Mall, and I was surprised to see that he remembered me. Again, he complimented me about my reports on travel and SF cons. Second, the next day, I saw him closer to home at the Cherry Hill Mall, Cherry Hill, NJ, where he suggested that I should put out my own publication. I told him that I would think about it. Third, a week later, I traveled down to Virginia Beach, VA, and saw him at the Lynnhaven Mall. I said to him, “I hope you don’t think I’m a camp follower.” Then, I mentioned making this weekend into a mini-trip by visiting the VA Air & Space Center later that day. I also mentioned my upcoming England trip, and that I was going to see his show when I there. His wished me a good time on my trips and said that he wanted a report about them later. Therefore, I visited the VA Air & Space Center. (I have a report about this place in one of my former regular newsletters, DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS.) That night, I saw John Inman on the local PBS station on TV. One of the studio employees interviewed him. The next day, on the way home, I stopped at the NASA Visitor Center on Wallops Island, Chincoteague, VA. It reminded me of a more low-key version of the VA Air & Space Center. They had exhibit items, pictures, and texts about this space center and what it does and about NASA. I also saw a humorous film about the everyday lives of the astronauts on Skylab.

     That November, I went to Philcon and enjoyed the usual panels, con suite, dealers’ room, art show, parties, and the masquerade. It seemed that almost everybody there was in a good mood because of Philly winning the 2001 Worldcon bid.

     Finally, in December, I visited England, and I stayed at the Tavistock Hotel while I was in London. Among the sights that I saw were the Theatre Museum, the Science Museum, the Museum of the Moving Image, and Little Venice. (All of these places I’ve mentioned in my publication DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS: OVERSEAS.) I also ate at the original Hard Rock Café, and I first ate there in 1976 when it was a former gas (or petrol) station. It only served hamburgers, displayed some rock memorabilia, and played rock music in the background. In 1998, it was a larger building with a much larger menu, more rock memorabilia on the walls, and even louder music. Another place I visited was Page’s Bar, a bar that displayed a ST décor of pictures, posters, ship models, and other items. I had a gin and tonic and a quick interview with the manager on duty; he told me that on certain nights, different ST fans came here and watched videos of ST TV episodes and films. Outside of London, I visited the Southend Sea Life Centre, Southend-On-Sea, Essex. (I have a report about this place in my OVERSEAS issue.) Finally, I went to Wolverhampton, West Midlands—after taking a train from London to Birmingham, and then, a commuter train to Wolverhampton. I checked into the Britannia Hotel, and that night, I saw John Inman perform in a pantomime play, The Adventures of Robin Hood, at the Grand Theatre. John played Nurse Wanda, governess to Maid Marion’s younger brother and sister. (I have a better description of pantomimes in one of my issues of DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS.) Because it was the opening night, patrons got a box of Cadbury chocolates, a glass of champagne, and a free program book. Now that was class! The next day, John’s assistant invited me to John’s dressing room to have a quick interview with him and take his picture. John was just as charming as ever as he told me his impressions of opening night. Then, he gave me a quick hug and wished me a safe trip. On the train trip back to London, a group of children sang Christmas songs in each car. I spent my last night in England at the hotel near Heathrow Airport; the next day I flew back to Philly.

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1999:

     On my last year before I started publishing DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS, I started the year by going to Costume Con 1999 at the Cherry Hill Hilton, Cherry Hill, NJ, in February, for four days. During those four days, I listened in on panels, talks, discussions, and presentations on how to dress from head to toe, how to make certain garments, working in the garment industry, and the differences between hall costumes and competition costumes. (Hall costumes are costumes SF fans wear around the convention, but they don’t enter them in the Masquerade. Whereas SF fans wear competition costumes in the Masquerade. Hall costumes are usually more durable and the wearer keeps in mind that he or she may have to answer the call of nature and do other bodily functions while wearing the costume. Competition costumes only have to hold up long enough for the stage presentation and photo shoot.) For two of those days, I also went to the local malls, Cherry Hill and Echelon, to pick up some “costume-like” items for the con. I also took many pictures of the costumers, as well as costumes on display on mannequins. At night, I partied in the con suite on one night, and on Friday night, I watched the Friday Night Social. (This is a costume party with a different theme. Some past costume cons themes were Medieval, Renaissance, and Roaring ‘20s. The theme for 1999 was costumes from Gilbert and Sullivan plays or Victorian costumes.) For the next two nights, I saw the SF and Fantasy Masquerade on Saturday night, and the Historical Masquerade on Sunday night. This con offered plenty of eye candy.

     In early March, I went to the best Lunacon ever. The Lunarians, a NYC area SF club, played host to Lunacon at the Rye Town Hilton, Rye Brook, NY. This SF con had the right amount of panels for me to listen in on--space exploration, costuming, SF reading, writing, art, computers, running cons—especially Worldcons, and so on. In addition to panels, I also saw the art show, dealers’ room, and con suite. At night, I went to room parties and the Masquerade on Saturday night. I remember a woman wearing a bug costume who called herself “The Y2K Bug.” Therefore, I really enjoyed this con and hoped that Lunacon could continue running their cons like the 1999 con.

     This year also got a bit stressful for me because I had a few health problems—nothing very serious just more annoying than anything else. Next, the publicist of somebody I interviewed had a misunderstanding about me, but I straightened it out. Then, my bosses pulled out of the franchise they were in, and I wasn’t sure if I would still have my job because of this. In October, I learned that my job would be very secure, and I got a promotion to regional manager of this independent book distribution company in 2000.

     In September, I traveled to Charleston, West Virginia, to see John Inman, but I also took the time to see the WV State Museum on the state capitol complex. Compared to other state museums, this museum was somewhat small but packed with plenty of exhibit items covering the natural and human history of WV, including the blue NASA jacket that astronaut Jon A. McBride wore on the space shuttleChallenger on October 5, 1984. That night, while I was in the hotel’s bar & grill, I saw John Inman sitting at the bar, so I went over and said hello to both him and his assistant. John was very polite to me for that brief moment, and I went back to my table shortly afterward. Later, that night I was prepared to see him on TV, but the station had technical problems, so no show. The next day, I had a hassle trying to get a picture of him from some of the personnel from the local PBS station. I had clearance with his publicist beforehand, but these local PBS people didn’t care. Nevertheless, I did make my way over to John and ever the gentleman, he posed for a few pictures for me. (I have more details about this “event” in DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS: THE PREFACE.) Once on stage, John talked a bit about himself and answered a few questions. This event did not quite turn out the way several people in the audience expected, me included, and I noticed many disappointed people leaving the hotel that night. As far as I know, nobody blamed John Inman for this event. Most of them knew that the local PBS people mismanaged this event.

     That November, I attended the best Philcon ever because for the first time, this con had its own science track, and a lot of it covered space science—especially space exploration. I spent most of my time in the room with the science track panels. When I wasn’t there, I also listened to panels on other subjects: fandom and SF writing. Then I visited the Art Show room, Dealers’ Room, and Con Suite. What I remember the most was buying a long-sleeved space T-shirt with the images of the inner solar system on the front, and the outer solar system on the back. I wish I had the name and address of this dealer because I would like to buy more of these kinds of T-shirts.  

     Finally, in December, I visited England. This was the first time since 1980 that I took a major trip without my husband. (His work with Y2K kept him from taking this trip.) I wasn’t too concerned because back in 1976, I took my first trip overseas alone. I arrived in London on a Sunday morning, and after I checked into my hotel, The Royal National, I walked over to the main Friends (Quaker) Meeting House. For the past few years, I have studied this religion, but I never got around to attending a Friends meeting house. I decided to do that on this date. (It brought back memories of my first trip to London in 1976 when I went to a Sunday service at Westminster Abbey. Back then, I was flirting with becoming Anglican; I became Anglican/Episcopalian in the 1980s. In 1999, I was curious about the Friends/Quakers.) Therefore, I sat in on an unprogrammed meeting—silence except for when someone felt the urge to speak or pray. (You can Google Quakers to learn more about this religion.)
     For the rest of my stay in London, I visited the following places: Burgh House, Leighton House, a boat tour of the River Thames, Design Museum, and Sir John Soane’s Museum. (I’ve covered all of these places in my OVERSEAS publication.) Then, I took a tour though the Original London Walks Tour: The Magical Mystery Tour—a walking tour of places in London where members of the Beatles lived, worked, or shopped. The person conducting this tour was the president of the Beatles Fan Club. He showed us places in Soho and then, after a Tube (Underground) ride, we arrived at St. John’s Wood and Abbey Road Studios (outside only). We also crossed that Abbey Road crosswalk as seen on the Beatles Abbey Road album. After the tour, when I got back to the lobby of my hotel, I discovered that my wallet was missing. I mentioned it to the hotel security, and he gave me the phone numbers of the police and some credit card companies. I phoned all of them, and then, I phoned my husband. He phoned the other two hotels and placed the credit card charges to his card. The next day, I filed a report with the London Underground. (In January, the Lost Property office of the London Underground found an envelope that was in my wallet, but not my wallet.) Thank goodness, I didn’t put much money in there or my passport! The only cash in my wallet was a ten-pound note and some odd change. (From now on, I wear a security pack under my clothes where I keep most of my cash and credit cards.)
     I spent the next few nights in Westcliff Hotel, Southend-On-Sea, Essex, and I noticed that I was losing my voice due to a cold coming on. The next night, I saw John Inman at the Cliffs Pavilion in a pantomime called Jack and the Beanstalk where John played Dame Wanda, Jack’s mother. (I have an explanation about English Pantomime theatre in one of my issues of DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS.) I noticed that John did similar routines and songs as in the show I saw him in during the previous year, and he wore some of the costumes from the year before as well. Nevertheless, when I saw him inside the stage door, he was just as nice and friendly as ever, and he was still in his make up because he had another show to do shortly afterward.
     The next day, I took the train back to London, but I also encountered delays because the train also broke down. We had to get on a shuttle bus that dropped us off in London. Between the delays on the train, and getting the Tube to another part of London, it was late afternoon by the time I checked into the Poste Forte Hotel (the former Kensington Close Hotel—the hotel I stayed in back in 1976.) Once I was in my room, I cleaned up, got dressed up, and walked next door to the former London Tara Hotel, but in 1999, they named it the Copethorn Tara Hotel. (Back in 1976, the Kensington Close was a two-star hotel, and the London Tara was a three-star hotel. In 1999, the renamed Poste Forte Hotel was a four-star hotel, and the renamed Copethorn Tara Hotel was a five-star hotel.) I had a formal tea that included several small sandwiches and pastries, and after that, I went across the corridor to their pub for a gin and tonic. This was a civilized way to end a mostly uncivilized day. Finally, the next day I took the Tube back to the airport, but I lost my balance and took a hard fall. My leg was hurting, but I got to the airport and onto my flight to Philly. After I was home and undressed, I noticed that my leg was black and blue. Despite my wallet theft, my getting a cold and losing my voice, and getting my leg hurt, I planned to return—but with my husband. 

Into the 90s

     At first, there wasn’t too much of a difference between 1989 and 1990. Nevertheless, I do want to clear up a few things: I did go to more places than I mentioned in my essays from the 1980s and for the essays from the 1990s. The places I didn’t mention usually didn’t get published in any professional publications, but they did end up in fan publications. That’s understandable because I am competing with the regular staff of different magazines and newspapers, and those employees of these same publications most likely went to those places themselves. Anyway, I will also mention that since the early 1980s and into the 1990s, I took what I called my S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedure) trips to a few different places each year: 1) daytrips within New Jersey for the day, a few times a year sightseeing. I also visited 2) Philadelphia for the day for a few times a year to go sightseeing, to the theater, and to see some films. In my favorite city, 3) New York City, I spent a few times a year from a daytrip to staying a night, or two, or three for sightseeing, the theater—Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway, and the cinema. Then, I took mini trips to 4) Washington, DC, from one night to four nights for sightseeing. I have to admit that I feel spoiled because of living close to those cities and their wealth of attractions and culture. Therefore, when I travel elsewhere, I usually ask myself, “What is at ____ that I can’t find in my own area?”

     As for going to science fiction conventions (SF cons), 1990 was the first year I ever attended 1) Balticon, the Baltimore-area SF con, at Hunt Valley Inn, Hunt Valley, Maryland. Back then, the Baltimore SF Society held the con on Easter weekend for three days, and so far, this was the best SF con I ever attended. I never saw a SF con with so many tracks of programming: reading SF, writing, art, and science—especially space exploration, costuming--and a very impressive masquerade, etc. Because this has been a regular SF con, as opposed to a media-SF con, the guests of honor (GOH) were SF writers and artists. Whereas at a media-SF con, the GOHs were actors from SF TV shows and films. For the rest of the 1990s, off-and-on, I would say to my friends, “If it’s Easter, it must be Balticon.” My next con, 2) Phorolic Con, in Mt. Laurel, NJ, in July, was much more quiet with one room for programming, a small dealers’ room, a small art show room, and the con suite. I did have the chance to socialize more with other SF fans at this con as I seldom did at cons like Balticon or Philcon. Speaking of 3) Philcon, they, too, had different tracks of programming. While they didn’t have as many programming tracks as Balticon, it still made for an interesting three days at the Adams Mark Hotel on City Live Ave., on the Philly side of the street.

     My main trip for 1990 was to San Francisco for four days. I stayed for four nights at a hotel a few blocks away from Union Square, and I ate breakfast at either a luncheonette a few blocks away from the hotel on Sutter Street that offered the same breakfast as the hotel for a lot less, or I ate at Sears Fine Food. This place had nothing to do with Sears Department stores. Sears Fine Food opened in 1938 near Union Square, and they have been famous for their 18 small Swedish pancakes and other breakfast and lunch items.
     As for sightseeing, I spent each day in a different area of the city starting with Fisherman’s Wharf. I rode the cable car to this area from Market Street to the Mason Street stop, a few blocks from the waterfront. Once at Pier 39, I saw a film with special effects that covered the history of San Francisco. Later, I walked along the waterfront where I especially noticed the pier that held sea lions, and the distant Golden Gate Bridge. Because the prices for seafood were very expensive—double digit prices for most seafood appetizers—I went to a street that was parallel to the waterfront and to a pizzeria where my husband and I ate a large pizza for the same price as we would have paid for two seafood appetizers. Most of the area, however, was very commercial with different shops and restaurants. I did manage to go to the beach and get my hands into San Francisco Bay. It wasn’t the Pacific Ocean, but the bay does lead into the ocean. We also walked around North Beach and went to the top of Coit Tower. The interior at the bottom of the tower showed Depression Era (1930s) murals of people doing everyday things, and the top offered a bird’s eye view of the city. Then we took the crowded cable car from the waterfront back to Market Street.
     The second day, we roamed around Chinatown, at that time, the largest Chinese community outside of China. Compared to the Chinatowns in Philly and NYC, this Chinatown seemed more spread out and not as tightly packed along the streets, especially the main street, Grant Street. I ate at a restaurant where I noticed that many of the patrons looked Chinese, browsed at the shops, and saw a mid-sized Chinese art gallery in a modern hotel that displayed art from ancient times to the 20th century in sculptures and pictures.
     For the third day, I took a tram or trolley car to Golden Gate Park. Along the way, I saw some lovely pastel-colored, Victorian-gingerbread houses trimmed in gilding. Once in the park, I visited the De Young Museum of Art, San Francisco’s main art museum. Like other major art museums, this place held art from different eras and nations in fine arts—paintings, drawings, photos, and sculptures as well as decorative arts: furniture, items, and some period rooms. Nobody could see it all in a day. I remember looking at different glassware, and as I noticed some glass pieces from NJ, I pointed them out to my husband. With that, a woman introduced herself as a curator for that glass and told me about her visiting NJ to obtain those glassware items.
     Finally, on the last day, we went to Golden Gate Park again, but this time to visit the Asian Art Museum, located near the De Young Museum. (Nowadays, the staff relocated this museum closer to the Civic Center, downtown.) Therefore, I looked at plenty of fine and decorative art from many areas of Asia and from different eras. I remember a special exhibit devoted to ivory, and I listened to a lecture and saw a slide show about the ivory trade and of how it should be outdated. (Poachers are murdering many elephants for their tusks, and the means to make artificial ivory requires using materials from petroleum.) On the way back to Market Street, we stopped at what was then the San Francisco Shopping Center on Market Street near Powell Street (nowadays, the Westfield Shopping Center). While the shops looked like any upscale shopping mall, what made this place unique were the spiral escalators! Overall, I enjoyed San Francisco, and vowed to return someday.

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1991:

     I attended the usual SF cons: 1) Balticon, 2) Phorolic Con, and 3) Philcon, but my main trip was closer to home: The Hudson Valley of New York. I spent a few nights at different hotels and motels, and I visited a few castles and mansions as well as walked through some quaint towns. 

     The main event for 1991 for me was getting a new job as a supervisor in a factory in Camden, NJ, that made parts for computer games. I also joined the North American Association of Freelance Journalists. (I have more details about this in DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS: THE PREFACE.)

     A sadder event was the death of Star Trek (ST) founder, Gene Roddenberry, that year on October 24. At least he lived long enough to see the 25th Anniversary of the airing of ST. It first aired September 8, 1966.

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1992:

     In addition to my usual SF cons, 1) Balticon, 2) Phorolic Con, and 3) Philcon, I also attended a media-SF con, 5) Shore Leave, at Hunt Valley, MD. Although, I’ve been lately finding regular SF cons more interesting than media-SF cons, I went to Shore Leave because they advertised that they were going to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ST. This SF con presented the usual actor GOHs from SF TV shows and films, held media-fan panels, and showed different ST episodes as well as ST and other SF films. The dealers sold media tie-in books and other merchandise in the dealers’ room, and the art show displayed art works of mostly paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other items mostly having to do with different SF TV shows and films. The one panel I remembered was “Where Were We On September 8, 1966?” About half of the people in that room weren’t born yet. Others talked about where they were on that date. (I was 10 and starting fifth grade in a public school after spending four years in a not so good Catholic school. While public school was no picnic, I found attending there to be a bit better than Catholic school. Moreover, yes, I did watch ST that night—and I’ve been a fan ever since.)

     Speaking of SF, I was saddened to learn of the death of Isaac Asimov on April 6. I felt this loss more than the passing of Gene Roddenberry because I had met Isaac Asimov a few times at different SF cons, and he was a very affectionate person as well as an interesting speaker who told stories that sometimes kept me spellbound.

     I took my main trip that year to Long Island, NY, where I spent a few nights at a few motels and visited some shore towns catering to different social classes. My favorite place, however, was Jones Beach. (I guessed by now that I’m neither high class or low class but something in between.) I’m not a big sunbathing-beach person; I’m more of a shade worshiper than a sun worshiper. While I don’t mind being near salt water, I don’t like swimming in it. I prefer to just get my feet wet, or at most, go up to my waist. (Fresh water is another matter; I love swimming in fresh water.) Anyway, I mostly walked along the beaches, on the main streets in different towns, and visited a few museums and old homes in those towns.

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1993:

     It was back to the usual SF cons for me: 1) Balticon, 2) Phorolic Con, and 3) Philcon.

     I took my main trip for a few days to Connecticut, especially to Hartford and New Haven. In New Haven, I toured the campus of Yale University and visited the Yale Museum of British Art, the largest collection of British art outside of the UK. Later, in Hartford, I visited the Wadsworth Atheneum of Art. This somewhat large museum displayed its share of fine and decorative arts from around the world from different eras, and I later walked through Bushnell Park and noticed the current capitol building.

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1994:

     The saddest event for me so far happened that year: My father, Joseph Rudolph Kurtz, died on March 25 of cancer. He was 70, and he had smoked for years before quitting in 1986, but it was too little, too late.

     I kept busy both at work and by traveling to both SF cons and trips. The first SF con I attended that year was 1) Balticon at the Hyatt in Baltimore near the Light Street Pavilion. I loved the location of this hotel; it’s too bad Balticon couldn’t have another SF con there.
     In May that year, I attended a SF con that listed itself as a fanzine con in Arlington, VA, called 2) Corflu Nova. I wish that somewhere in the flyers they had said they were a “relaxie” con. While I don’t mind attending a relaxie con locally, such as Phorolic Con, when I travel a distance, I like to travel to a SF con with a sizeable amount of programming. I was under the impression that this “fanzine” con would have panels and talks about writing, editing, and putting together a fanzine, along with a bit of partying. Corflu Nova included one meeting room and a con suite! I did talk to a few fans—one of whom seems full of herself—that’s all I’ll say about her, in both this meeting room on Friday night, and at the con suite on Saturday night, but most of the SF fans were nice. Because this SF con was near Washington, DC, I prevented this weekend from being too much of a waste of time; I visited the National Air and Space Museum on one day, and the new Postal Museum on another day. Overall, Corflu Nova had no programming at all.
     Another conference that I attended was 3) Jupiter Watch, Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC. This wasn’t SF, but science fact because in addition to celebrating 25 years of the Apollo Moon Landing, it was also the year the comet Shoemaker/Levy crashed into Jupiter, and the following people had a talk about it: Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker, David Levy, Louis Friedman, and Carl Sagan. After Louis Friedman introduced Carl Sagan to the audience, Dr. Sagan gave his opinions about the comet before introducing David Levy. Mr. Levy talked about his interest in astronomy and especially comets—which he started searching for when he was 17 in 1965—and showed slides of both the Shoemaker/Levy Comet and other comets. Later, Dr. Sagan introduced Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker who also gave their opinions about the comet partly named after them as well as the fun they had working with David Levy. Then, they too, showed slides of the comet. Finally, this session ended in a question and answer time for the audience.
     It was back to SF for the next event, 4) Phorolic Con. This con had more programming and room space than Corflu Nova, and they advertised themselves as a “relaxie” con. It was a local con not too far from where I lived.
     Then, my main trip also tied into the next SF con for me: I spent two days sightseeing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and later, I attended the 5) World SF Con or Worldcon 1994, in the same city. I’ll start with Winnipeg, MB, Canada: My first impression of Winnipeg was from the window next to my seat on the jet as we were getting ready to land. It looked like a patchwork quilt of prairie farms with a city thrown into the middle. Once, I received some Canadian cash at the airport, I took the bus to the closest stop to my hotel, a Best Western that was about a half a block from the Winnipeg Convention Centre. The next day, Wednesday, I visited the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature. Here, in this somewhat large museum, I saw animal dioramas of the following: bison, polar bear, caribou, wolf, and moose. Another area displayed a ship from 1645 called The Nonsuch. Thus, I was free to board the ship, and surrounding this ship, the museum recreated a 17th-century English seaport town that included houses and warehouses I could enter. Other exhibits included a log cabin, a sod house, and items about the local First Nations people (people formerly called “Canadian Indians”), and the early European settlers. One of my favorite areas included a recreated 1920s street from Winnipeg, complete with different businesses: doctor’s office, dentist’s office, shops, etc., and especially a cinema showing silent films inside. My visit ended with seeing a hands-on science gallery and planetarium.
     The next day, Thursday, I visited the Winnipeg Art Gallery. This mid-sized museum included two temporary exhibit areas. When I was there, one area presented The Earthly Paradise about British artist and designer William Morris (1834-1896). Morris and his friends, mostly other artists and writers, tried to bring beauty and pride back to the world, especially to the middle and lower classes with individualized arts and crafts. He disliked the Victorian mass-produced, machine age. Therefore, I looked at exhibits of paintings, furniture, room interiors, and so forth. The rest of the museum showed Inuit (formerly known as Eskimo) art. In fact, this museum contained one of the largest collections of Inuit art. Because of their limited space, this museum couldn’t show all of their Inuit collection at once. Thus, they presented different themes for a certain amount of time. The month I was there, I saw a special collection of quilts the Inuit women made that symbolized their lives, hopes, and beliefs. Overall, both sections of this museum displayed some colorful collections.
     Then, from Thursday night through Monday, it was time for Worldcon! My main impression of my first Worldcon was that it was similar to a regular SF con, but with more panels, a bigger dealers’ room, art show, and con suite. Among the unique parts, I witnessed a larger Masquerade, the Hugo Award presentation, more room parties at night, a fanzine reading room, and an exhibit area showing items from past SF cons, including past Worldcons from the first in 1939 up to the previous year. Overall, I did enjoy myself here. Because it catered to people who mainly attended regular SF cons, the GOHs were mostly SF writers and artists. Nevertheless, the panels—in so many tracks--reminded me of combining panels from Philcon, Balticon, and a few other cons into one giant con. On the other hand, if you noticed, I usually took a major trip outside of the Northeastern USA in the shoulder season or sometimes in the off-season, but seldom or never in the high season—mostly summer. By going shoulder or off-season, I’ve dealt with less crowds and lower prices. Therefore, as much as I enjoyed Worldcon, I didn’t enjoy it enough to travel again like that in the high season. From now on, I said that I would go to another Worldcon if it is in the Northeastern USA, and save my major trips outside of that area for autumn, spring, or sometimes winter.
     Anyway, I finished out the year by going to 6) Philcon where I didn’t have to do half the planning to attend here that I did for Worldcon.

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1995:

     This year became another active year for me, but it started by attending my first 1) Lunacon, in March, at the Rye Town Hilton, Rye Brook, NY. The NYC area SF organization, the Lunarians, played host to this con—hence the name, “Lunacon.” Although this con didn’t have as many items on its multi-track programming compared to Philcon—let alone Balticon, I still sat in on panels about costuming, SF fandom, science—including space exploration, computers, writing, art, etc. At night, I attended a few parties, and on Saturday night, the Masquerade. They also had the usual “fixed-function” rooms such as the con suite, dealers’ room, and art show room. I also discovered an interesting deli, the Rye Ridge Deli, within close driving distance to the hotel.
     On Easter weekend, I was again at 2) Balticon. For 1995, the panels and most of the other programming were at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, in downtown Baltimore, and the Masquerade was at the Omni (nowadays, the Wyndham) Hotel next door. As usual, Balticon had plenty to see and listen to in its several tracks of programming, and a great masquerade.
     In mid-July, I traveled to Washington, DC, to the National Academy of Science to listen to the 3) Steps to Mars symposium. Here, Louis Friedman talked about the last 10 years since he did a similar symposium and introduced the rest of the guests: Arnauld Nicogossian—American Astronautical Society, Roald Sagdeev—University of Maryland, and Thomas Stafford—commander of Apollo. Other guests included Aleksey Leonov—commander of Soyuz, astronauts Bonnie Dunbar, and Robert “Hoot” Gibson—who recently returned from the Mir Space Station. They each talked about subjects such as working with other nations, understanding the planets, and the Apollo/Soyuz mission. Other subjects included working on the space shuttles, the Mir Space Station, and what NASA and other space agencies needed to do to prepare for a mission to Mars. They also showed a few slide shows. Following this, they did an audio link-up with the Mir Space Station where astronaut Norm Thagard talked about everyday life on the space station. After a lunch break, the head of NASA (in 1995) Daniel Goldin, Donna Shirley from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Alex Galeev of the Russian Space Research Institute, discussed possible future Mars missions, and they presented their own slide show. Finally, all of the guests came on stage to answer questions from the audience. It was an interesting symposium, but I also remember the very hot weather. It was so hot (How hot was it?), that the National Park Service closed the Washington Monument for that weekend. The temperatures went up to over 100 degrees. On the train ride home, the train too, had to move slowly because of the possibility of the tracks buckling. Therefore, a two-hour train ride became about a four-hour ride. Then, there was getting around the hot streets of Philly and NJ to go home to an air-conditioned apartment. Anyway, after about an hour in our apartment, the power went, and I stayed the rest of the night at my mother’s apartment.
     About a week later, I attended 4) Phrolic Con on another hot weekend. Fortunately, it wasn’t as hot as the DC weekend, and I’m glad because on the first night, the fire alarm went off a few times, and we had to vacate the hotel for about 10 to 15 minutes each time.

     That fall, I took a mini-trip to Canada to visit Ottawa for a few days, and later, took a train to Toronto, Ontario, for another few days. In Ottawa, we took a bus tour of the city, and I stepped into the Canadian National Library and Archives. The time I was there, this place presented a special exhibit about SF. Here, I saw exhibits of SF books, magazines, games, toys, etc. as well as a few videos.
     Later, when I took Via Rail Canada to Toronto, I was surprised to find that they served complementary dinner and free refills of tea and coffee. (Nowadays, Via Rail Canada is just like Amtrak: you are lucky to get tap water free.) Along the way, I noticed that this part of Ontario had some small towns as well as several dairy and corn farms. Once in Toronto, I spent my time taking a bus tour of the city and visiting the Royal Ontario Museum, the largest museum in Canada. This was one of those museums that you could not see all of it in a day. I picked my favorite sections to see, especially the section on Canadian art and history—and vowed to return someday.

     I went to one more SF con, 5) Philcon, before taking my major trip for the year. In addition to the usual con activities, some SF fans gave me advice on the place I planned to visit for my main trip.

     That December, I visited Southern California, and this was the first time contingency plans worked better than original plans. At first, we planned to rent a car—we did—and drive to the different attractions we wanted to see. We had booked a hotel in Anaheim for a few nights, and we booked other hotels in the LA and San Diego areas for a few nights each. Because others warned us about the need to drive in the LA area, we planned to do a lot of driving. First, after landing, a shuttle bus took us to the car rental place nearby, and then, my husband drove down I-405 south toward Orange County. From what I saw, so far, 405 reminded me a bit like I-295 in NJ, but with occasional palm trees here and there. We then exited onto State Route 22 toward Anaheim, then onto Harbor Blvd., and finally to Ball Road and our first hotel, the Best Western Anaheim Stardust Hotel. As we checked in, a very informative desk clerk named Jackie asked us about our plans, and told us about VIP Tours. We looked at these tours, and we noticed they were going to the same places that we planned to visit on our own. If we added up the costs of gas, parking, admission, etc., these tours would only cost us about five to 10 dollars more, each, than if we traveled on our own as planned. Therefore, we booked this hotel for the next several nights and cancelled the other hotels. Then, we booked a VIP Tour of 1) LA By Night for that night. (I don’t usually plan to do anything the day I land, but this tour looked interesting.) In a few hours, a shuttle bus picked us up and drove us to our first stop, Universal City Walk Shopping Center. Almost everything looked larger than life as I saw building exteriors lined in neon along with different animated signs. The shops, however, were not too different from an upscale mall. A second stop took us to Hollywood and in front of Mann’s (formerly Grauman’s) Chinese Theater. A picture of this place doesn’t do it justice—you have to see it in person with all its opulence. I also noticed the celebrity handprints and signatures in the pavement in front, but I found the façade of this movie palace more interesting. Next, we stopped at the LA Music Center between the Mark Taper Theater and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. What I remember the most was the fountain in the center of the plaza when our guide told us that a computer operated the dancing of the waters. Finally, the bus drove us through different areas of Hollywood, LA, Beverly Hills, and Sunset Strip. These areas looked even more colorful because of the Christmas decorations.
     2) The second day, we took a complimentary shuttle bus to Disneyland. (Our hotel was located a few blocks away from Disneyland.) While it would be unfair to compare this park to the whole Walt Disney World complex in Florida, I could compare it to the Magic Kingdom Park in FL. In this case, I liked Disneyland better. First, there was the weather; second, this park looked more compact, and I most likely did less walking to the different attractions; third, Disneyland Castle looked more colorful in shades of pink and gray; and fourth, I felt more of Walt Disney’s personal touch here because this park opened when he was still alive. Even though I mostly limited myself to attractions that I either didn’t do in FL or that weren’t in the FL park, it still took me almost all day to see everything. Among the unique attractions in this park when I was there--Sailing Ship Columbia, Matterhorn Bobsleds—the oldest metal roller coaster in the world, Autopia—even I drove in Southern CA, Casey Jr. Circus Trains, Storybook Land Canal Boats, and New Orleans Square. I also saw Disneyland decorated for the holidays and a Disneyland Christmas Parade on Main Street with the Disney characters on holiday floats. Another nice touch with Disneyland was the variety of eating-places. I ate at a Mexican-styled cafeteria, and the food was as good as any that I had in a regular Mexican-styled restaurant.
     Thus, I booked more VIP Tours, and on the day after Disneyland, I took the tour bus to 3) SeaWorld in San Diego. This was the oldest of the SeaWorlds—opened in 1964, and I watched the show featuring the killer whales, one of them named Shamu, as well as dolphins, sea otters, seals, and sea lions. Because Anheuser-Bush owned SeaWorld, I also saw the employees hitch the Clydesdale horses to the beer wagon, and I noticed the Dalmatian dogs that came along. Therefore, this was one of the few places in the world where I fed a dolphin, petted a Clydesdale, and got kissed by a Dalmatian. What more could I ask for?
     The “more” was another day, and another tour toward San Diego, but this time to 4) the San Diego Zoo. This was one of the world’s largest zoos, but what impressed the most was seeing all the subtropical and tropical foliage landscaped throughout this zoological park. Even at a food concession, I ate chili as I noticed more foliage and a waterfall in the distance from my table. After lunch, I took a bus tour that covered about 80% of the zoo. I also watched some animal shows, and saw parts of the zoo not covered by the bus tour: primate, bird, and reptile houses, and a farm area/petting zoo.
     The next day, I took the VIP Tour bus to 5) Universal Studios. There were three parts to this theme park: the Back Lot Tram Tour, Studio area, and the Entertainment area. When I arrived, I made a beeline toward the Tram Tour. This was what set Universal apart from other theme parks. I saw many of the back lots and felt some of the special effects recreated from popular films and TV shows. Next, I rode the escalators up to the Studio area, and in the different buildings, I looked at and heard how those behind-the-scenes made different special effects for films and TV shows. While eating at the Art-Deco-styled cafeteria called “The Commissary,” some re-enactors imitated movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Era from the 1930s into the ‘50s. The last section, the Entertainment area, I watched the following shows: a stunt show on a recreated Western street, animal actors show, and a few other shows. Some of the streets looked like a Western town and another street looked like a street in Paris.
     I went for culture the next day as I visited the 6) J. Paul Getty Villa in Malibu, but first, our tour bus stopped at Fisherman’s Wharf in Marina Del Ray. This was a recreation of a Cape Cod village of shops located in the largest fabricated sailboat harbor in the world. Then we stopped at Venice Beach where I put my hands into the Pacific Ocean and collected a few shells from the beach. On our final stop that day, I looked at Roman and Greek art and antiquities on one level, and European fine and decorative art on another level in a building that was a replica of a Roman villa. In fact, the villa could distract from the art. Here, I saw different inlaid marbles and 3D-looking murals of columns, flowers, and different designs. (Nowadays, the Villa only houses Greek and Roman art; the European art is now in a new Getty Museum in Brentwood in a modern building.)
     I then spent the next to the last sightseeing day on a 7) Grand Tour via VIP Tours. While this tour covered some stops from previous tours that I’ve taken, I also saw a lot more and learned more about the LA area than I ever did before. Among the places that we stopped at was a view of the Hollywood sign from Mulholland Drive, and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. The overall area of Rodeo Drive looked interesting, but the shops looked similar to what I’ve seen in NYC along 5th or Madison Aves. Then, we ate lunch at the Farmers’ Market near CBS Television City. This market dated back to the 1930s when farmers sold their produce. Now it has many food stands and shops. After lunch, we stopped at one of my favorite stops, Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles, founded in 1781. This neighborhood reminded me of pictures that I’ve seen of villages in Mexico as it seemed very lively and colorful. Finally, our tour bus took us through many different areas of LA County: Downtown, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills as well as Bel Air, Sunset Strip, Westwood Village, Santa Monica, Burbank, and other places.
     On my last sightseeing day, I took a Gray Line tour bus to 8) Knotts Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park. Long before Disneyland, the Knotts family would crossbreed some berries into a boysenberry, and sell them at their farm stand. Later, Mrs. Knotts made fried chicken dinners and sold them too. In time, they opened a restaurant, and on the grounds outside, they added some Western buildings. In the 1940s, it because a Western-themed park. Through the years, the family added more attractions and rides in different theme areas. When I was there, I saw six theme areas: Indian Trails, Old West Ghost Town, Fiesta Village, Roaring 20s, Wild Water Wilderness, and Camp Snoopy—for children. To me, a good theme park was a place I could be entertained without having to ride wild rides. This park had its share of rides, both wild and tame, but it also had enough entertainment for those who didn’t care for rides. Here, I watched Native American dancing, a 19th-century melodrama on stage, and a Western saloon show as well as different crafts people demonstrating their crafts: blacksmith, Native American crafts, weavers, spinners, and more. An interesting small museum covered the history of both the old West and Knotts Berry Farm, and along the way, I noticed an old school house, jail, courthouse, and other places I would have seen in a Western town. I also rode a train that used a truck body to cover the engine. When I pointed this out to my husband, a woman nearby told me that these kinds of trains used to take workers out to the fields to work. Later, I had lunch in the main restaurant where I ordered the original fried chicken dinner and boysenberry pie that made the Knotts family famous. (It was good.) Finally, I saw an exact replica of Independence Hall. In the replica-room where congress met, it looked just like the one in Philadelphia, and unlike the room in Philly, they presented an audio show about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The room on the other side, that would have been the courtroom in the Philly building, contained a gift shop and a small museum about the American Revolution. Also unlike the building in Philly, this Independence Hall still contained a Liberty Bell—replica. (In 1975, the National Park Service moved the original Liberty Bell out of Independence Hall to a pavilion across the street.) Overall, this theme park surprised me on having more than I expected. As for the trip as a whole, someday, I will return to Southern California!