Bellingham Washington June 7-9 2013!!

There are several people here on LT who will be going to the Bellingham, Washington Booktopia June 7-9.

Are you going to be there?

Even if not going to Booktopia, would you like to meet in Bellingham?

Since my DD and I are driving over from Montana, we plan to do several touristy things in the days prior--a whale watching one day cruise, a sunset sail, possibly some camping and hiking.

And of course, lots and lots of discussion of books and authors (and maybe a small glass of wine!)

Anyone else in?

I will be driving up from Lake Stevens on the 7th. Benny, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel will be coming with me! We are looking forward to some nice walks. I'll be around on the 7th, 8th, and part of the 9th. Need to be home in time to host my Game of Thrones potluck supper, if there is an episode showing.....

I expect the drive will be complicated by the bridge collapse over the Skagit River. I plan to drive Highway 9 to Sedro Woolley and then 20 back to I -5, then north to Bellingham. Should add about an hour, maybe a bit more, to the trip.

Looking forward to it!!!!

I am going to monitor this thread even though I can't go. I was registered, and probably still am since I paid my money. Oh well, such is life. I will want to live vicariously through all of you so keep me informed through this thread.

Yay! Bellingham and Booktopia!
I must do some reading for this event (it just seems that buying the books is not really enough).
Thanks for starting up a thread for us, streamsong/Janet.

I'll be arriving June 7 and will pick up P at the train station that evening.

I'm excited! This will be the first time I've met anyone from LT.

Our tentative plans are to drive on the 5th, camping a bit south. We'll come into Bellingham on the 5th for our whale and harbor tour, thinking of doing the sunset sail on Friday evening.

Janet, I assume you know about the I-5 bridge over the Skagit river being "in the drink" and that it will complicate driving to Bellingham, unless you have a secret path which is north of said bridge.

OH, and BTW, What time do things start on Friday? Do we begin at the bookstore? I can't access my info so I need a little help here.

I think things start at noon and I assume we start at the bookstore, but I haven't looked at the schedule in a while. I chatted with some folks in line at the Mariners game yesterday who drove down from Blaine and they said the re-route wasn't bad.

Hi Karen--No, I've never been to the area so I have to rely on people (like you?!) for the secret pathways. I'm just going by the official DOT site for the detours--I'm open to better suggestions. Our Wednesday/Thursday proposed campsite is north of the detour but south of Bellingham.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Construction/PugetSound/detourmap.htm#NB

Since I'll be going through the area before you, maybe I can let you know how long delays are.

Here's all the info I have for Friday which is from the email.

"We'd like to have your name badge and a welcome information packet for you when you arrive at the retreat. Please tell us where you will be staying. (If not staying at any of the 3 named locations, please collect your welcome packet at the front desk of the Northshire Bookstore).

1:00-2:00pm - Topic-focused sessions (I'm signed up for F2. Short Stories with Ann Kingman - Fairhaven Village Inn Conference Room)
3:00-4:00 PM - Yankee swap - Chrysalis Inn
6:00-7:00pm Welcome Reception, Book Fare Cafe at Village Books

I may skip the short story session as well as the Yankee Swap. Is a Yankee swap where the first person opens an unknown and then the next person can either steal or open another unknown? I'm guessing this is for books.... but I'm just guessing.

Janet and Karen, I plan to be in Bellingham by noon-ish, but of course it will depend upon the drive.

Hmmm, well I'm supposed to pick up my packet at the 'Northshire Book Store' according to the email since I'm an independent.

But that's in Vermont.

So I'm guessing Village Books, but I'll email them to make sure.

That would be quite a detour...all the way to Vermont. I am guessing you are right about the Village Books.

I am staying at the Chrysalis Inn, with Benny (the dog), and since I am "free" on Friday, I'll probably drive up reasonably early. I need to coordinate with my daughter who will be taking care of Greta Garbo. So, I'll drive 45 minutes south, drop off the dog, and then turn around and drive north. I am going to take Highway 9 from Woodinville all the way to Sedro Wooley, then 20 back over to I-5 (north of the river). It should be a slower drive as it is not a freeway, and it will be scenic. I might have to stop and take pictures.

I expect I'll be at the Reception for sure, maybe the stuff before.

Sorry, not feeling like being all hyper planned. But I am very much looking forward to meeting you, Janet.

Last year in Oxford, MS, I picked up my packet at the bookstore that hosted the event with no problem

I would encourage all of you to participate in the Yankee Swap. It was so much fun and a great way to meet the other Booktopians. This Yankee Swap is all about books. Wrap up a book (I took a nice used book) that you liked and would like to share with somebody and then have fun with the group. Because I always have spare books around I wrapped and took two books because I was sure that after I got there somebody could use the book, and if not I could just take it back home with me. I think I took Studs Terkel's Good War and a mystery by Anne Perry but I can't remember for sure. Sure enough, somebody decided at the last minute to join the Swap simply because I had an extra book. Our group had great fun laughing about it during the exchange. It was great fun and don't spend a whole lot on the book, but I would encourage the participation because who among us doesn't like to talk about a good book they have read?

These meet ups are an incredible experience. I have no doubt you all will have a wonderful time together!

Thanks Linda!

I'm starting my list of books to buy with my gift certificate: Liesl and Po is the first.

I have that one from the library, Karen, and I hope to read it but I do want to read some books for Booktopia!!

Read Adam Hope first. It is the best, IMHO

Ack. I'm reading and sort of liking The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving but it seems to go pretty quickly so far. I'll do Adam Hope next.

See you in one week!! Yay!!!!

Wishing all of you a happy weekend. Wish I was there. Hah! Turns out I could have been. My colleague, who was to be at a conference in San Diego this weekend, had a major reaction to a new drug she was taking, ended up in the emergency room, and now can't fly. She is here instead of there, and so am I. Enough said.

It promises to be a rainy weekend here in Alabama, so I can pretend I am in Bellingham.

Sunny and 70s here this afternoon. Lovely.

I am in the bookstore spending my gift card before I have even heard the authors! Weather is gorgeous and we wish you were here! I'll bring out the camera tomorrow and there will be photographs.

Camera was used several times but I'm too tired tonight to post more than just this one picture. Here we are at dinner Saturday night!

This is the view we were seeing while we had our dinner



There! Have I done enough to make you all green with envy.

>23 maggie1944:: It was a fun dinner with good book conversation. (Karen, I hope you post the one of Janet and me talking with Ann.)

Here you go - Ellen and Janet talking, happily, with Ann of Books On The Night Stand, the organizers and sponsors of Booktopia. A delightful person.

Karen, I haven't been on LT much lately but I've been checking this thread for pictures. Thanks so much for posting them. I especially love the group picture at dinner. I am green with envy and am so sorry I wasn't able to go since it's not that far from me. I hope they do another one in the NW soon. Can't wait to hear more about the weekend.

You can go here - http://www.librarything.com/topic/154935#4138952

for more information and more pictures

Ask questions, too.

I'm home with both puppies and feeling good. Tomorrow back to taking care of kids. But with the good weather that should not be too burdensome.

Love the pictures. Thanks so much for posting them. Booktopia is great and I am so glad that they have them different places around the country. I hope that some of these bookstores will be able to continue this kind of small conference in the future, because book people love to talk about books and some of the bookstores are great businesses that help to keep the communities in which they are located vibrant.

It was a lovely weekend! We got home Sunday a bit after midnight. It's a 10-12 hour drive and I was ready to call it a day in Spokane, but DD, Cait, pushed through and we made it.

It was great to meet the LT'ers and other book people. The authors I listened to were all very personable. And what a lovely area! I gave up on my camera, but when DD wakes up, I'll post a few photos from our whale watching tour of the bay.

Oh, I want to see the whale tour pictures.

BTW, it was delightful to meet Cait and I hope she finds exactly the right program for her plans.

Wonderful photos. This would only have been a 3.25 hour trip for me but I hadn't heard of it before and didn't really know what it was all about. Time to inform myself. Looks like the lot of you had a great time. I too, love the dinner photo and what a table view you had. Glad you all enjoyed yourselves.

We can hope, rainpebble, that we see them do this again somewhere near us next year. If you are curious you can goggle Booktopia. I'll go get a web address for the orgnizers and be back to put it here.

ETA: Go here - booksonthenightstand.com and read about their podcasts as well as Booktopia

And then, hope for next year!

Thank you maggie. And I have already googled Booktopia. This is a very interesting and workable concept.
booksonthenightstand.com; love it. Got some great recks too. Thank you again.

Rainpebble, I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you. I had checked the wiki when I posted this thread, but no one is listed for either Washington or Oregon that is interested in meetups. http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Location_Wiki

Hope we'll meet soon! Let me know if you ever get to Montana!

And now we'll see if I can post an orca:





They identify individual animals by the shape of the dorsal fin and the white patches. This was a 40 year old mother and her two male offspring, both in their 20's.

Those are lovely photographs, Janet. My only whale watching cruise netted no whales, but we did get to see some cool birds! And I love being on Puget Sound, whatever the excuse.

Thanks for posting the photographs.

>35 streamsong::
There are at least 4 in the Seattle area who have had & enjoyed small meetups. I will try to get their usernames for you. One is arubabookwoman; but I forget the others. And in the Oregon area Berly is one. Likewise I will try to find the usernames of the others. I believe that 8 were going to try to make that one but only 4 were able at the last minute. It would be awesome to have a N.W. meetup.
I think that there are a lot of L.T.ers like myself who are 'afraid' of wiki. For some reason it terrifies me.
I hope to meet you one day as well. So please let me know if you are back over this way again one day. My threads are here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/146144
and here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/153490; although in the 75 gig, it is so huge that I cannot even find myself there half the time. lol!~!
I also have threads on the ROOT group and the Orange group.
Chat with you later. Loving the photos.
belva

#38
I went to Booktopia in Oxford, Mississippi last year and enjoyed myself. Ann and Michael host the event at bookstores that they think are outstanding bookstores and it is great fun. At the Oxford Booktopia there were people from as far away as Denmark and one from Australia.

Maggie and Streamsong - were there people from all over the U. S. at this Booktopia?

yes, although I did not pay a whole lot of attention. I am sure I heard of people there from Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, and then one of the New England states, Texas, Arizona, .... I can't be sure of more....

Michael and Ann did comment that the west coast events tend to pull less nationally than others. It's as far for me to fly to Vermont as it is for someone from Vermont to fly here, but I think west coasters are more likely to travel that large distance. This is true with other national organizations with which I'm involved, too.

I also met one lady from Ohio and one from Nebraska. There were several from Canada (naturally, I guess, since it was so close).

Ann did say that they had some concern over the West Coast Booktopia's. Last year they had quite a few last minute cancellations. This one was relatively slow to fill--it took a month rather than the few hours that the others did.

I'd love to go back to the west coast, Rainpebble. We took the scenic coast road on the way back and stopped by Larrabee State Park and hiked a bit down to the beach and observing tide pools. We didn't have our cameras, but this view is posted on the Larrabee Park website:



When we hit Seattle, we were too tired to do the tourist bit there and headed home.