This year Dale used some rental car points to get a snazzy SUV for the 250+ mile trip so we rocked out to Hair Nation on the way up! We also headed up on Thursday so we didn't have such a rushed time getting up there, checking in, etc. before the con started on Friday. It was great, except for the pool being f*cking closed!

Started off with some Cork's Donuts as per tradition.

Stopped at Buster's BBQ in Portland for lunch.

The best.

Got to the hotel and got our cookies

We stopped by our friends' room and I was told this wine in a coffee cup would go well with my cookie. Sure, why not?

Thursday night bbq at Famous Dave's.

Good stuff!

On Friday, more friends arrived. When I stopped by this room, I was served a White Claw. Sure, why not?

Someone brought a BABY to this thing?!?!

We had a large group this year - and this wasn't even everybody!!!

It's called marketing. Gotta get the word out about our Saturday night midnight movie!

They had a robot patrolling the parking lot. Reminded me of a robot we saw inside the con!

This was a really cool panel about making props and models.

I met Kevin Glover, founder of Scary Tales Publishing and picked up a MONSTER SMASH-UPS comic and DVD of SYNGENOR (Kevin played one of the rubber-suited creatures!)

With more friends here, we headed back to Famous Dave's for more bbq!

These crazy kids got such a big order they served it to them on a trash can lid!

Calvin McCarthy won the Best Northwest Film award for PILLOW PARTY MASSACRE.

Up and at 'em! Dale is REALLY ready for Saturday!

Danielle Harris loves the baby!

The giant raptor didn't scare this kid - his parents are horror fans!

Walked over to Taco Bell for a quick lunch.

Back in 2020, I was hired to draw the storyboards for actor/comedian Patton Oswalt's satirical pitch for "Chopping Mall 2" as a part of Shout Factory's "Patton Oswalt's Six Pack" movie marathon broadcast. It was a quick turn-around with sketches drawn and approved up and down the chain of command in a matter of days. Really fun project!

The pitch mentioned Kelli Maroney reprising her role from the original movie, so I got to draw this storyboard of her and was excited to be able to gift the original art to her at Crypticon this year!

Kelli Maroney was so nice - she checked everyone's phone to make sure the pictures were all in focus.

John got pictures with Kelli Maroney AND Catherine Mary Stewart.

Bed Pizza for dinner.

I backed director Hannah May Cumming's BABY FEVER and it was sweet to see it on the big screen!

Hey, Dale's on the poster!

Hey, Dale's on the screen! Had a great time at our ODDER NOGGINS screening!

So many cast members from ODDER NOGGINS made it!

Good times.

Checked out the 13th Floor parties.

Donna customized her Skullface Astronaut t-shirt with this great quote from fan George Cook!

Kelly Jo Minter and Dean Cameron were in SUMMER SCHOOL together in addition to lots of other work - another fun panel with great stories. Robert Macnaughton even stopped by because he had auditioned for SUMMER SCHOOL (losing the Chainsaw role to Dean Cameron!). Talk went from PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS to the FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH tv show, ROCKULA to ALF!

The Kelli Maroney/Catherine Mary Stewart panel was great. They both had backgrounds in soap operas, mainstream and genre fare, and had lots of interesting stories to tell.

It was really great to meet and chat for a while with Toby Poser and John Adams from Wonder Wheel Productions. Really nice, down-to-earth and eager to chat about clever low-budget production!

The Wonder Wheel Productions panel was filled with tales of production, great tips, stories and tricks to making cool movies!

The big event of the weekend was the E.T. panel on Sunday. Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas and Robert Macnaughton were all there and a dude joined them on stage who was one of the BMX bike riding kids in the movie!

Henry Thomas was a really nice dude. And he liked the baby. Of course.

Robert met one of his favorite authors, Matt Shaw.

Once again the weekend flew by and we wrapped up our Sunday with a pic with con mom Mickie.

Then we stopped by Dick's for some burgers. Dale made "bag of dicks" jokes for at least the first 30 minutes of the trip home. Bless his heart. Looking forward to Crypticon 2024!!!