Limping Home from Conference (With Photos)

I've limped back to Dallas from sightseeing and "conferencing" in Washington, DC. Well, actually, I flew back, but there was a lot of walking in the airport!

My husband joined me for the trip this year and we went to Washington, DCon Monday. On the first day of sightseeing I discovered that I'd forgotten to pack any walking shoes, but that wasn't going to stop me from taking the Metro to Union Station, then walking around town. I wore my favorite Clarks sandals, which seemed fairly sensible to me, and we set out. Here's my husband, Chuck, standing outside the Capitol.

I developed a huge blister on my right foot about the time we hit the Air & Space Museum on The Mall. I braved the crowds and saw the one museum that I hadn't gotten to see in 2000, when the RWA Conference was in DC before. (This was especially important to me because of the July 20th 40th anniversary of the moon landing, which I clearly remember since my roommate, her family and I stayed up most of the night.) Then we took a cab back to our hotel.

On Wednesday we rented a car and I went to see my cousin Suzie, whom I hadn't seen in at least 40 years. She was the one person in our family who had an exciting job, working for the State Department all over the world. Now she lives in Reston, VA, a short drive from Washington.

On Wednesday night we took a twilight tour of Washington, which ended up being mostly during the daylight because the sun doesn't set until after 8:30 pm. We saw most of the monuments, beginning with the White House. Here's my friend and fellow North Texas Romance Writers of America aspiring author Gina Nelson, standing in front of the White House. We also saw the recently completed World War II Memorial, important to me because my father served in the Pacific during the war. The Washington Monument is in the background. We ended up in Arlington, VA at the Iwo Jima memorial, which is very impressive at night.

So then the conference started, and I got to meet some new

Harlequin American authors and see some old friends. Here's a photo of new author C. C. Coburn, a very interesting Australian who lives part of each year in Colorado, and (right) a friend from previous years, author Cathy McDavid. This photo was taken after the RWA Awards Ceremony at the ballroom in the Marriott Wardman Park hotel, where the conference was held. Previously I had a wonderful conversation with Linda Warren, a fellow Texan, who was nominated for a RITA award.

I also lunched with , Barbara White Daille, Laura Bradford and other authors, along with editors Kathleen and Johanna. Also, I spent time with another fellow Texan and new Harlequin American author, Pamela Stone. My critique partner and friend, Kara Lennox, was there and roomed with fellow Harlequin author Carla Cassidy. I'm sure I saw many others, and I apologize if I have forgotten to mention your names. It was a very exciting but tiring week!

I'm off to finish my new proposal for Kathleen and send it in post haste (as I am already woefully late.) And then I'm going to come up with some new ideas for more Texas stories, because I've been told they are still in demand, especially cowboys and ranchers. And since I do live in Texas, I might as well do the research, right? Even if it requires me to spend lots of time with good-looking, slow talking, tight jean-wearing, cowboys. Please, no pity. I'm a big girl. Have a great month, whether you spend it at home or away, getting your own blisters.