Dragon Con ~ Day Two

Day Two ~ Saturday, Sept. 1st

     Day two started with a parade. I drove into town and park and met some friends, Jan and Karen, at an open parking garage right in the middle of the parade route. We were on the 5th floor. It was a pretty good spot to watch the parade. It was miserable hot. Really high humidity. And I was completely dressed. And dripping! The edge of the parking garage filled up quickly the closer it got to parade time. I was about an hour or so early. Of course I had my small camera instead of my 'pro' version. So, while I have pictures of the parade they are not of the quality I would have liked to have. Oh well, live and learn. I will definitely plan better for next year. Anyway, on to the parade pictures.....

The Traveler arrives at the DragonCon Parade 2012

(photo by Jan)

the corner right below us - crammed full

the official start of the parade

military(ish) start....GI Joes?

Stan Lee & the Batmobile

a large collection of superheros

Dean Cain - everyone wanted to know why he wasn't dressed.

a lot of people had no idea who he was.

Hobbits invade the parade

Charlie Brown Halloween characters

the Doctors (Dr. Who) have arrived - i had to take

3 photos to get them all in - really popular character

Star Trek members beam in

Who Ya Gonna Call?  Ghost Busters

of course a touch of Halloween!

and a slightly larger touch -

Netherworld Haunted House -

steam, smoke ring canon, flashes and moving critters

the Dark Elves make an appearance as well

At this point I was getting a little claustrophobic (crammed against the railing) and light headed. Too much heat (standing in direct sunlight, fully dressed). I had to force my way back through the crowd and move further down to catch my breath and get some water. So the following pictures are really bad. Between the trees at the end of the road.....



The Mach 5 - Speed Racer

Pirates, matey

with their own ship

Elect A. Zombie for President

this is hard to see, but there is a pink R2D2 fitted into

the rear of the car - like the fighter plane

Storm Troopers in kilts, there were another two groups

of Storm Troopers behind them. but apparently a severely

diminished amount from previous years.

     From the parade we walked back to Jan and Karen's condo that they rented for the weekend. Jan made us lunch while I stripped off everything except my shirt and pants. It was really, really muggy. Jan made cheeseburgers (yes, I know, not on my list of things to eat), potato salad and some homemade cole slaw that was amazing. And I don't say that very often. I like certain cole slaw and not many others. This stuff was really good! Then I went to another panel. This time it was one that Jan was attending and invited me. It was incorporating electronics and lights into costumes. It, unlike my first one, was extremely informative. I will most definitely be adding lights to next years costume. Jan took a bunch of notes on her phone. I have them now and hope to wade my way through some of the websites that they gave out.

the speakers on lights in costumes - don't remember names

We then went back to the condo and hung out for a little while and Karen made some really tasty lasagna. Mmmmmmm. With garlic bread of course. I was completely stuffed! After dinner, Karen got dressed and we got ready to go watch the people going to the DragonCon After Dark Dance. This is for the more 'adult' costumes. We never actually went into the dance, the line was around three sides of the building just to get in. We found a spot on the patio of the hotel where they came out. Got some photos of the people coming out and I went inside several times to get some air conditioning. It was really hot in my costume. The hair only made an hour and then it had to go. The mask made another 20 minutes after that and then it got put on the outside of the hat. By this time, after a couple of drinks, I was just soaking wet. Anyway, onto the pictures.....

this young lady was doing a photo shoot at one of the

arches around the hotels. great headpiece and makeup

these guys were great - Big Trouble in Little China

The Traveler and his Steampunk Companion -

Karen and I on the patio

(photo by Jan)

John, another friend of mine, surprised me. I had been

looking all over for him and never saw him in two days.

and didn't see him for the rest of the Con

Three young maids. trying to hide their cigarettes to look 'proper'

Steampunk

Red Storm Trooper - even his shoes

this guys staff was wicked! he never did tell

me where he got it

these two were really sweet

this is one of the hotel employees. she passed by me 3 or 4

times before i realized it wasn't a costume. talk about brain dead

really sweet lady

a goth doll with a Netherspawn

these wings were unbelievable - she did them all by hand

they were really amazing

black and white to the extreme

a female Loki

princess from Legend - she really looked the part

Jessica Rabbit - do i need to say that all the

guys were drooling? they were.

this was an amazing costume - the photo doesn't

do it justice

Q from Star Trek

There are many more photos but these were the ones I liked the best.

I guess it was around 11 / 11:30 when I left. I was totally fried on Saturday. Tired, hot, sticky and ready to go and sleep....man it sucks getting old. Twenty years ago I would have still been on the patio the following morning. :)