Southern Comfort Convention 2000

This was my first Southern Comfort, an event I've planned to go to for many years but something always happened to prevent me. However, this year it finally happened and I planned to be there for almost 6 days.

So it was on the Wednesday morning I set off for the airport with my rather well stuffed suitcase. I can tell you packing for the event took several weeks of planning in itself with many rounds of packing my suitcase only to realise there was no way it would all fit !! My first pleasant suprise of the day was a complimentary upgrade to 1st Class, not too bad a start to the event I thought !. By 3pm I was at the hotel unpacking and anxious to get to the bar to see my friend Tina who was arriving around the same time with her friend Patti.
By the time I got to the bar around 5pm it was already full of girls but no Tina. After a few moments wondering what to do I saw Vicki Rene (ex President of the Vanity Club) we had never met but after 5 minutes I felt like I'd known her for years. Vicki kindly introduced me to many of the Vanity Club girls who were there, so many in fact I completely lost track. However, one who I won't forget was the wonderful Sarah West who was on her world tour and stopped by on her way past it appears. Sarah and I got along very well, maybe because like me she is British with and off beat sense of humour. Tina finally appeared just as her bus was about to leave for the theatre , so we arranged to meet later in the bar. Meanwhile Sarah , Vicki and I planned to have dinner at Hudsons a local resturant. As you can see we had a great time !
Wednesday night soon became Thursday morning and seems I had a few too many! For this I blame Sarahs friend who persuaded me that we should share a good bottle of wine so how could I refuse :-). Actually it was very nice wine and it seems it was not just me who stuggled with surfacing the next day. So it was after lunch by the time I appeared. Thursday afternoon was spent wandering around the many vendor booths , trying very hard not to spend too much. There was also the 1st of many photo opportunities and so of course I made the most of those !
Thursday night was the Celebrity Rock Cafe, and the fleet of coaches ferried people there all evening. Vanessa and I arrived later and both very much enjoyed the band playing. Tina was there with her friend Patti who was also from Buffalo. Patti and I got along very well as we seemed to have very similar tastes in many things. By the end of the evening we were well on the way to being good friends.

Friday was time to catch up on some sleep but I did manage lunch this time :-). The afternoon was spent in various seminars, with so many it was difficult to decide which to attend, There was such a wealth of information on every topic you could imagine covering all aspects of T* life and some of its problems.
In the evening was the banquet and talent contest, but 1st was the Vanity Club photo shoot , with 40+ girls to try to get in one photo. Sarah did an admirable job of bullying everyone till she managed to get all in the shot. Anyone who can see me in the photo gets a prize !
The talent contest proved to be of a very high standard and I was pleased I'd decided not to enter after my debut at the Poconos. After the show it was back to get changed....again ! for the nightclub. Tonight it was The Chamber an S&M club so with some trepidation Tina, Patti and I boarded the coach. The club was very dark and there were some very interesting people wandering around ! The show was very well done and far more interesting than I'd expected....Hmmmm. As usual it was late by the time we got back to the hotel but the bar was still crowded.
Saturday we decided it would be nice to get out of the hotal and so Vanessa suggested a visit to Stone Mountain a local beauty spot. She assured us it wouldn't be busy being October but when we arrived the bright sunny weather seemed to have brought half of Atlanta out . We soon decided we didn't want to spend out afternoon in a line for the cable car or train and decided a look around the old mansion house would be rather nice.

Saturday evening was another banquet and the masquerade ball. We all had masks for the ball and wore our best gowns for the event. Many of the girls had clearly spent a lot of time preparing their outfits and looked wondeful. On the left is Vanessa in her splendid gown which she made especially for the event.

After the Ball , time for another quick change and off to the Otherside nightclub. This club was rather more conventional than the Chamber and there was an excellent show with an hilarous comic act. Patti and I felt it was quite the best act we had seen for a long time.

Sunday came far too soon and most girls including Patti and Tina had to leave. No-one really wanted to leave and Patti left very late for her flight almost missing her plane it turned out. I spent the rest of the day shopping in the Lennox Mall across from the hotel. Nothing like some retail therapy when you feel down :-). In the evening I ate Hudsons , the same resturant I'd eaten at with Sarah on Wednesday .
Monday, and it was time for me to go too. The flight back was excellent ( 1st class again !) if uneventful and all too soon I was back in Detroit. I'd had a very nice time and made lots of new friends and will be sure to go back again next year. See you there in 2001 I hope.

Mail to Stephanie