SeaquestriaFest 2022 and Story Notes (In Her Wheelhouse) · 10:02pm Dec 11th, 2022
It's long past time to talk about my trip to Ocean City MD for SeaquestriaFest last May. This is actually gonna be more about the trip than the con itself, and it's gonna have story notes for In Her Wheelhouse at the end as well, since there's some overlap.
But first, get yourself a drink and get comfy!
Since the trip was a drivable distance, I did that, even though gas prices were higher than I would have preferred—especially with the premium they charge on toll roads. Usually, I would have left very early Thursday morning, but this time I elected to instead leave right after work on Wednesday, with the plan of sleeping in the back of my van. That would give me the opportunity to do a couple touristy things I'd always wanted to do when I went to Bronycon, but never had the time for.
I slept in one of the oasises in Pennsylvania, can't remember which one. Wasn't the best place for sleeping; they had some really bright parking lot lights and of course there was lots of traffic. Left early, when the sky was light but the sun was not yet above the mountains.
My first stop was the C&O canal. I could do a whole blog about canal facts; y'all know I've already written a story arc involving canals.
The first surprise I got was that the canal was elevated on a berm. In hindsight it was obvious that it would be; the terrain in that part of Maryland isn't exactly flat, but a canal needs to be. Unless you wanted to dig a lot of tunnels, you'd be better off having the canal elevated, so you could just climb up to the coal mines that were one of the purposes for the canal (crossing to the Ohio River or one of its tributaries was also a goal [which is why it was called the Chesapeake and Ohio canal]). As such, to cross the canal, one went through a tunnel at the base of the berm, rather than over a bridge. This was a logical solution; you're building a berm and it's not that hard to put holes in it where you want crossings.
I was also surprised to see that the canal ran right alongside the Potomac River. It would seem like it would have been easier to make the Potomac navigable (it also goes to the Chesapeake Bay) but obviously it wasn't, or they wouldn't have put so much effort into building a canal.
Four Locks was named for the four locks it had. None of them were much more than stone walls; all of the other direct canal structure was long gone. There are probably other structures along the canal route which are in better condition. That having been said, some of the other support buildings were still around; a historical mule barn and another historical house called 'the Baker House.'
I also just found out when I was doing additional research for this blog post that Lock 47 also had a drydock for repairing canal barges. I would assume that was a lock off the main canal where the water could be let out and the boat would sit on the ground for repairs.
When I was done looking at the remains of a once-thriving canal, I headed for Annapolis.
While I never lived there, it's an ancestral home for my father's side of the family. The first Shiply arrived in Anne Arundel County in 1668 and got some land on the Severn River and I guess they never felt the urge to go anywhere else until well into the industrial age.
I took a tour of Annapolis. Some of it hasn't changed much since my great-great- . . . grandparent's time.
In case y'all didn't know, the Maryland State House used to be the capitol of the United States, and perhaps would still be so if Washington DC hadn't been built instead. It's had various additions and modifications and restorations done over the years, including a brick wall (since replaced by an iron fence) to keep cattle out. Kind of amusing to think that before that, the founders of the United States might have had meetings interrupted when rogue cattle wandered in.
From that point, it was on to Ocean City, although I took one detour on the way. I passed by a Unicorn Bookstore and just had to stop in and see what that was all about.
I wound up getting a book titled Saddlery and Harness-Making, which was a reprint of the original, published in 1904. That actually served as the inspiration for my panel on harnesses, saddlebags, and horseshoes that I presented at Everfree Northwest, although very little of the information in the book was actually used in the panel.
Incidentally, as promised there's a readable version of that which I've now put up on GoogleDocs. I'll put the link at the end.
Unless you go through Delaware, Ocean City is reached by a bridge. When I arrived, it was fogbound, and for most of the time I was in Ocean City, there were varying degrees of fog (although it was occasionally clear). SeaquestriaFest is at the Grand Hotel, and most if not all of the rooms overlook the ocean.
I didn't see any pegasi on patrol, but there were plenty of shorebirds, as you'd expect.
The con itself was really low-key. It's a brand new con, and it's in a small venue. They had a few vendors, some panels, and Ellie Ray who is always fun. They also had one other event which was exclusive to that con; I'll get to that in a minute.
From our hotel room, we had a good view of the beach patrol digging out the beach, which was a large part of the inspiration for In Her Wheelhouse.
You can see that one of the backhoes is digging out right where the stairs go down to the sand.
I doubt that the SeaquestriaFest organizers planned this, but Sunday night after the convention there was a lunar eclipse, so a whole bunch of us—including Ellie Ray—watched it on the beach. I don't have very many good pictures of that; a cell phone camera isn't very good at taking pictures in the dark.
Yes, that is a New Lunar Republic flag
All in all, though, it was a fun little con, and I'm going next year as well.
Story Notes: In Her Wheelhouse
I mentioned a couple of things about the story up there, but now we'll go through it in order. The title itself was inspired by ROBCakeran53, who suggested that since working ponies were 'in my wheelhouse,' I should write a story where she was literally in a wheelhouse. This is actually the third iteration of such a story, and the first completed. The first story was about a pony solo-sailing around the Great Lakes, and the second was about a pony working in a rock quarry. I may or may not finish the second version, since it was basically this story but set in a rock quarry (or a dirt mine, as Silver Glow would have said). The first one probably will get finished at some point.
SIGAWESOME provided the coverart, which is AI generated. My original intent had been to use a photo I'd taken at Ocean City of the beach crew at work, since I couldn't find any images of a pony in a backhoe.
The fog details are accurate, all the places I mentioned in the story really are there. Really, when you think about it, it's based on a true story, the only thing I added was a pony.
Link to Harnesses, Horseshoes, and Saddlebags (it's Google Slides)
SeaquestriaFest was a fun con. Not very big, but that suited it just fine. It meant actually hanging out and talking with folks instead of rushing to the next event. I'll see you there in '23.
I want to live in Equestria as an angry reclusive 4chan Anon Hikikomori. Twilight, the Mane 6, the Young 6, and the rest of the denisens of Equestria will bring me out.
Growing up in Pennsylvania, the Erie Canal got mentioned in school.
Did You Know
That pre railroad, canals were the fastest way to move large cargoes around & are one of the reasons the USA remained one nation & didn't split up.
Thinking about it, you are one of the few authors who have Humans In Equestria/Ponies on Earth but are NOT first contact.
To the extent you have a Continuum, you assume "Ponies are new enough (& rare enough) that they draw attention but it's not all "War of the Worlds" weird." The headlines are all in the past. Silverglow's Journal is typical.
One thing pretty much everyone has overlooked. There's a tendency for ethnic groups to live in certain neighborhoods (at least if there's enough of them). Not a ghetto, exactly, more like Little Italy or Chinatown.
IMO, it'd be called "The Stable" (partially from racism & partially "What else would you call a place where horses live?"). It would have goods & services that ponies would find useful. Farriers, preening oil, horse size shampoo bottles, doctors used to treating them, hair groomers, horse sized flea & tick collars, etc.
5702815 (ahem) (waves) (Although on a much smaller scale, I'll admit)
From a Maryland peninsula native now bound in Montana, I miss the OC boardwalk for its fries and saltwater taffy. Munching on them while waiting for a turn at the DDR machine in the arcade was a fond teenage memory for me.
I went to Ocean City once back in 2004 with my parents (before things took a turn for the negative health-wise for me). The whole trip to Pennsylvania and Maryland was meant to put my Dad's then-new Honda Civic gas-electric hybrid through its paces.
Anyway, we spent one day of that trip there to spend some time with my older brother, who was staying in the area at the time (he lives in Colorado nowadays). We ate at this seafood restaurant called The Shark (it should be called "Shark on the Harbor" now, I don't know for sure), and since I don't like seafood I got the only non-seafood item on the menu (an Angus burger, if memory serves, with Key Lime pie for dessert). Afterwards I got to stand on the beach looking out over the Atlantic for a bit, though obviously I didn't try to swim. After that we went to pay a brief visit to one of my parents' friends before making the hours-long trip back to our hotel.
Man alive, it feels like so long ago.
Another sign of how little I actually know about the MLP fandom: that's the first time I've seen one of those flags. And if that wasn't the first time I'd heard of the New Lunar Republic, I'd forgotten when. ()^_^
5702823
Uhm....Actually, most of those stories get a signal boost from Admiral Biscuit & I save them to his file
Then again, most of his Just Equestria stuff gets posted to my Estee file.
Because I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it, you know it.
5702823
If it's any consolation, I'm rereading your Traveling Tutor stories. (It's been awhile. )
That pony drinking gif is just adorables.
The lowest portions of the C&O, near DC, are more restored. Until about 20 years ago they used to do mule boat rides for tourists. That was ended by a hurricane.
Also, you say a thriving canal, but as I understand it the canal never, not once,made a profit.
5702779
There's the big cons where you're always running to get to a panel or meet a celib or what have you, and then there's the comfy cozy small cons where you just hang out and have fun. They've both got their pros and cons, but I do like the small ones and Ocean City's a fun place to be. If nothing else, second-best view I've ever had from a con hotel.
5702785
Maybe, or maybe they'll just turn you into a statue as a precaution.
What I'm saying is that it's a risky play. It might go real good, or it might go real bad.
5702794
Floating things on a boat still is an efficient way to move large cargo. Canals are expensive, but existing waterways can be used . . . the Great Lakes ship bulk by the millions of tons, and some rivers are also chock-full of barge traffic.
Yeah, there's a lot of good story material there, past the "OMG A PONY" first-contact moment, and dealing instead with the more granular 'how do they integrate into human society.' I've done a little bit of that in HiE as well, but not to the extent that I tend to do it with PoE.
It does take a certain number of immigrants to get that going, but yeah, I agree. Like attracts like; you're a pony fresh from Equestria so of course you're going to be attracted to a largely Equestrian neighborhood, something that's in a new place but also familiar.
Agreed. And in some ways, once it gets big enough, it's kind of a self-reinforcing location. For example, a farrier might not bother to learn pony hooves if he's based in wherever, but someone who's near where ponies congregate might go to the effort to get new clientele. And let's be honest, that's where the fun stuff happens, that's the place where improved horse harnesses get invented, and that's the place that's a focus of the best horse vets Earth has to offer. That's also where new integrations of Earth tech and pony magic happen, and anybody who wants a piece of the action gravitates to, further strengthening the community.
5702823
I'll give you full credit for putting ponies in Kansas and not having them say, 'well, this place sucks, let's go home.'
5702827
I don't know much about the touristy places on the Atlantic Coast, but I do love Ocean City. It was weird being there for con because it's just before tourist season, so not everywhere was open yet, and as a result you get a lot of good stuff from the places that are open, and also can see the potential from places that aren't.
Plus there's something about the Atlantic that evokes feelings deep in me and I can't exactly express them but maybe they're something you would understand, or maybe it is a complicated thing that involves the Great Lakes and being a native Michigander who's used to mini-oceans.
5702838
\
My last visit before Seaquestria was when I was still in high school (or had just finished it), and it was a time that was crowded with tourists. I remember the crowds of people and the horseshoe crabs and the deep primal understanding that the ocean hits different than the Great Lakes. It's an interesting place, and being there off-season is different than being there when it's in full swing.
That's a way old fandom meme; years ago I coulda hummed along with the anthem. Like many fandom memes, it's not quite dead, and what better time to bring out the NLR flag than during an eclipse?
5702875
Isn't it just?
5703234
Hurricanes, the look upon the works of man and chuckle. Then destroy them.
I honestly don't know. Maybe thriving was the wrong word to use, or maybe there's the always debatable discussion about infrastructure making a profit and whether it should and how you'd measure it anyway. Smarter people than I crunch the numbers on things like that.
5703404
64.media.tumblr.com/2c3023dba348b8b6d288187fd362f38e/tumblr_mz8q9yDmDT1tnwilgo5_250.gifv
5703398
I never made it to BronyCon, so I'll likely never truly experience a 'big' con. TrotCon '22 was big enough for me. Too big, in all honesty. CiderFest was the happy medium.
Now I'm curious - what con had the best hotel room view?
5703399
Wait, so they do that to Ponies who are introverted? Dang, Maud and her boyfriend got lucky!
5703411
I honestly don't see the Atlantic as inviting, it's always felt more threatening to me. I don't know why.
5703477
It was more the 4chan part, not the introverted part. I think they're okay with introverts.
5703414
I think Galacon is pretty big (but I could be wrong).
The old con hotel in Seattle; I had an eleventh-floor room with a balcony on two sides that overlooked SeaTac airport as well as trees and hills.
Honestly, all the rooms at that hotel were great. I understand why they moved the con, but I thought the old hotel was better.
5703689
Oh My. I've never seen any comics or anything of 4chan Anon abuse.
5703688
She can be. But since I grew up there, I think I might find it comforting because of the happy times there with my grandparents. I rarely saw her angry, and I don't know of any tales like you all have over there of the likes of the Edmund Fitzgerald, sp there's that.
Thanks for writing!
5721352
You're welcome!