Morton Fox (mortonfox) wrote,
Morton Fox
mortonfox

FursonaCon / ROFCon 2016

I bought an early bird membership to FursonaCon in May last year because it's a first-year con within driving distance and I wanted to give it a try. Also, at the time, they were planning to hold it during my birthday weekend and I thought it'd be nice to go on a trip then. Then last September, they made an annoucement that they would be merging with Ring of Fire Con. Unfortunately, that meant the con dates had to be changed to mid-March, which would therefore not fall on my birthday. Oh well.

Truth be told though, I thought it would be a disaster. Would ROFCon, which is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, anime and gaming, mesh well with a furry con? I needn't have worried. Once I got to the Hampton Roads Convention Center, I saw that they had it well in hand. FursonaCon had its own Dealers' Den and Headless Lounge, while the two cons shared a ballroom, gaming rooms, video rooms, panel rooms, and an art show. The big advantage seemed to be that two cons pooling resources can afford to book a hotel and convention center (well, half a convention center. We shared space with a gun show.) instead of just a hotel, so there's a lot of room for everyone. Plenty of room to grow, in fact, since the rooms and halls were not filled to capacity that whole weekend. Plus, the convention center had a lot of wide-open areas for costuming and photography. What about the people though? Generally, the sci-fi/anime folks seemed very accepting of furries. I walked around con space in fursuit, raccoon by day and husky by night (not planned, that's just how it worked out), and got many requests for hugs and photos.

The hotel bears mentioning too. Every room in the Hampton Embassy Suites is a suite. So in addition to the usual bedroom and bathroom, I had a living room with sofa, chairs, and another desk! The living room was a good staging area for laying out my gear and getting into fursuit. Also, the hotel provided a complimentary breakfast buffet, saving me a lot of time since I didn't have to venture out for breakfast. If that wasn't enough, they also had an evening reception every day, with drinks and light snacks. (finger food like chips, trail mix, and assorted veggies)

Geocaching wasn't as great in the Hampton Roads area, so I mostly got those on the Delmarva Peninsula, on the way to and on the way back from the con. There were a lot of Munzee though, around the convention center and at many stops along the way. Enough special Munzees to get me over 3000 points, 3 levels, and 2 badges.




Thursday 2016-03-17:

Damage Control (Delaware)
Car Wash Girl (Delaware)
Where's The Peaches (Delaware)
SafetyFirst (Delaware)
White on GreenHDTREE (Delaware)
ByTheTopStep (Delaware)
CarStopBlock (Delaware)
JollyTimeStop (Delaware)
HollyHigh (Delaware)
Road to a future.... (Delaware)
BullsEyeStop (Delaware)
New Year a-Wassailing (Delaware)
The Newest King of Laurel (Delaware)
The Tigers Paw (Maryland)
WGD 2015 - Welcome Center (Maryland)
Legos R' Us (Maryland)
WGD 2015 - Fruitland Recreational Park (Maryland)
Wee wee (Maryland)
Roads of yesterday (Maryland)
Dewey wait 'til then? (Maryland)
Roads of yesterday #2 (Maryland)
Roads of yesterday #4 (Maryland)
"Passed" you on the Highway (Virginia)
No Overnight Parking (Virginia)
We Love Books! (Virginia)
911....Where is your Cache? (Virginia)
Mark's Friend Wally (Virginia)
Onley Trackable Hotel (Virginia)
Where am I? (Virginia)
Nursery Keeper (Micro) (Virginia)
7-11 stop (Virginia)

Friday 2016-03-18:

If this is a depot, where's the train? (Virginia)
This Little Piggy Stayed Home (Virginia)
St. John's Cemetery (Virginia)
WOOF!! WOOF!! BOW!!! WOW!! (Virginia)
Green Cones behind Red Circles (Virginia)

Saturday 2016-03-19:

Sleep between Red Court (Virginia)
Lonely Burgers (Virginia)
Riverdale's Behind (Virginia)
Mickie's Least Favorite Lobster Trap (Virginia)
Sleepy? Time to take a nap (Virginia)
VTCC#3: Medal of Honor 3 (Virginia)
VTCC#4: Medal of Honor 4 (Virginia)
Ozymandias, King of Kings (Virginia)

Sunday 2016-03-20:

As seen on TV (Virginia)

Monday 2016-03-21:

WHERE IS THE WATER (Virginia)
Two Sides of the South (Virginia)
Down by the Station (Virginia)
CNC Kidz #2-OV Memories (Virginia)
History 101: The Star Spangled Banner (Virginia)
867-5309 (Virginia)
Nature's Call (Virginia)
CJS - Eastern Shore of VA National Wildlife Refuge (Virginia)
The Bunker (Virginia)
Don't get stung by Ray (Virginia)
Old McDonald had a smiley... (Virginia)
DG Cache (Virginia)
Eastville Park (Virginia)
1632 (Virginia)
CJS - Barrier Island Center (Virginia)
Oh Bouy! Penn's MTC Cache (Virginia)
School of Bessie (Virginia)
Are you Geocaching Again? (Maryland)
The meeting spot (Maryland)

Tags: furry con, fursonacon, fursuiting, geocaching, hampton roads, rofcon, sci-fi con
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