On Wednesday, Wheezley (the significant other) and I left Erie behind and schlepped back down to Pittsburgh (passing many more dead deer along the way). Again, not much to see until we got to Pittsburgh. Seriously, there aren’t even gas stations by the side of the interstate, just deer stands and the occasional barn/farm.

But we reached Pittsburgh soon enough. The first thing I noticed was the houses — they all seemed to be perched on top of hills right next to each other. I guess building space is tight. After a couple miles of that, we rounded a bend and reached the downtown area where the three rivers converge.

Wow. It was really beautiful. Lots of bridges, lots of shops, lots of restaurants. A very vibrant downtown. And clean. Very, very clean. Not like most downtowns that I’ve been to.

We missed our exit and ended up circling through downtown (which also has lots of construction) and then going back across one of the bridges. The bridges were a little confusing. A cab driver told Wheezley that Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other city in the world. I don’t know about that, but there were a lot of them — and some of them only went one way, which added to our confusion.

But we eventually found the hotel and parked (by which point, Wheezley was growling and demanding a drink and a cigarette). We grabbed our suitcases and lugged them a couple blocks to the hotel.

Ah, the hotel. A point of contention for many folks throughout the convention. I was disappointed in the hotel. We had to cool our heels in the lobby for an hour and a half until we could check in, at which time I was informed that I wasn’t getting the room with two beds that I’d requested. (Wheezley snores like a lumberjack and tosses and turns like he’s on a ship).

You see, the hotel was undergoing extensive renovations, even though it was going to host an event for 2,000 people for five days. You’d think the hotel would plan around that. But no. Even though I reserved my room a couple days after the convention registration opened last year, I was told I couldn’t have a room with two beds because there weren’t any available. I asked why I was able to reserve the room and was told there was a snafu with the registration system. I also asked a series of other questions about the rooms and why they weren’t available.

“Yeah, that’s not happening” was the overall response I got to most of my questions. I was told I could either go to another hotel or be stuck with what they had left. But hey, they were still going to honor the convention rate for the hotel rooms. Well, thank heavens for small favors.

So I took what they had and managed to get a cot for the room. I had also asked for a room on a low floor and ended up staying on the 24th floor — the highest floor in the hotel. Shaking head.

But hey, I did have a great view of the three rivers, Heinz Field, and the rest of the downtown area, as you can see with the above picture.

Overall, the hotel just seemed too small to host an event the size of RT. Especially the bar area — it was tiny. Anyone who’s been to RT or the annual RWA conference will tell you that a large, roomy, well-stocked bar area is a major key to success. :joecool:

Up next: More RT stuff.

My significant other (who will henceforth be referred to as Wheezley Blighter — and no that’s not his real name) and I actually left for the Romantic Times convention on Tuesday so we could drive up to Erie, Pennsylvania.

My friend Super Librarian Amy (as she will henceforth be known) is the head honcho at the Corry Public Library in Corry, Pennsylvania, a small town about thirty minutes from Erie. Since Pittsburgh is only about 2 1/2 hours from Erie, Super Librarian Amy asked me to come up, do a book signing, and hang out. I was happy to oblige. :buttercup:

So we packed up the car and headed that way early Tuesday morning. I’d only been to Pennsylvania one other time, and I was curious about where my friend lived (she’s originally from the area).

Pennsylvania is really flat. And swampy. And there are more dead deer by the side of the road than anywhere else I’ve ever been. Seriously. Super Librarian Amy told me to watch out for the “suicidal” deer, but I didn’t believe her until we got up there. We’d pass a great big deer lying dead by the side of the interstate every other mile or so. Weird.

After we cruised by Pittsburgh, there wasn’t a lot to see until we got to Erie. I thought my part of the world was rural, but Pennsylvania was more so. Guess it’s all the farmland up that way. Anyway, we only got lost once on one of the back roads and made it to the library right on time.

The Corry library is really nice, especially for a small-town library (the photo above shows the inside of the library). The library collection is around 90,000 books — and there are only about 1,500 people who live in the town. That’s a pretty good book-to-person ratio. Color me impressed. I sold six books, which wasn’t bad considering this was a Tuesday night. But more importantly, I got to hang out with my friend, meet some of her family, meet her fiance, and went out to dinner — it was all good. :blossom:

So thanks Super Librarian Amy — we had a great time.

Also, if any writer out there in blog land lives in Pennsylvania or the surrounding area, you can contact Super Librarian Amy through the library’s Web site. She’s always looking for authors to come to the library and do events.

Up next: More stuff from RT.