Scottsdale Stampede

Well, here it finally is.  I say "finally" because I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but just haven't gotten around to it.  I'm hoping that by blogging about it I can finally bring some closure to the whole thing, but that doesn't seem likely since I pass by the host hotel often and every time I see it, I think of the event.  Anyway, my manager gave us an extended lunch today and I thought what better way to use it?

So, a bit of a back story.  We learned last summer that there'd be a collector event in Arizona sometime in the fall.  There's always speculation about when the next even will be and where it will be and since I live in Arizona, I wanted it here.  Most of the events are in the eastern half of the country.  In fact, before Scottsdale Stampede, only one event had been held "out west" and that was Passage to the Pacific in 2012, I think it was.  I had just come back to the hobby after a hiatus of about 10 years (no money and no room for models) and didn't know about it soon enough to try to plan to go.  So, like I said, there was always lots of speculation.  I would always say Scottsdale and mention horse ranches the attendees could take tours of so imagine my surprise when it was announced the 2018 collector event would be in Scottsdale and one of the barns I mentioned several times would be hosting the attendees.

Initially, I was excited about the prospect of having the event so close to home, both literally and figuratively.  I live about 10 minutes from the host hotel, but in a different city.  That excitement turned into apprehension.  I'd never been to one of these events before and I don't have any hobby friends locally.  I used to know people in the hobby who lived here, but during my hiatus I lost touch with them.  Anyway, I'm a huge introvert and being around lots of people I don't know makes me very nervous.  Heck, being around lots of people I do know can make me nervous.  hahaha.  A bunch of people on Blab kept pushing me to go and honestly, the more they "pushed", the more I didn't want to go, but I eventually decided to go ahead and enter for a chance to go anyway since I live so close.  I would figure out how to pay for it later.  When the time came, I entered daily (was it daily or a one and done?  I don't remember), and when the winners started getting their notifications, I was disappointed that I wasn't chosen.  Someone offered to let me be their +1, but since you had to pay for the ticket so far in advance and I didn't know this person, I didn't feel comfortable doing that.  And it's a good thing I didn't because I ended up getting picked from the first wait list.  But then came...how do I pay for it?  $275 is a good chunk of change, especially during the summer when our utility bills are high due to needing to run the air conditioner.  Anyway, I decided to try to pre-sell my Phantom Face model.  I don't care for the mold and while it would be nice to have a model exclusive to an event, if it meant the difference between going and not going, I figured why not?  I came up with a price and posted it to Blab.  Very quickly I got a bite and she was willing to pay in full, right away.  I had only asked for a deposit but she said she'd pay in full so that was that.  I was going to Scottsdale Stampede.

It seemed to take forever for November to get there, but it did arrive finally.  On Friday, I went to the airport and picked up an attendee from Canada.  I live near the airport and I used to drive hotel shuttle vans to and from the airport so I knew my way around.  I had planned to take the long way to the hotel to show her some of the city, but we were inching close to when check-in and registration was so we just went straight to the hotel.  No.  I take that back.  I showed her my neighborhood and where I live.  It was on the way pretty much.  It looks so different from what she's used to in her area of Canada so it was fun to show her around and tell her the different things about the city and stuff.  I showed her Hunt's Tomb, which is the burial place of Arizona's first Governor.

He was really into Pyramids and Egyptian things so he wanted to be buried in a pyramid.  Also buried there is his wife, his kids, his mother-in-law and the family dog.  Gov WP Hunt gave women in Arizona the right to vote.

We arrived at the Doubletree Resort and she med up with her person who'd won the ticket (she was the +1), who had arrived the night before.  We all got registered for the event, received our celebration model and finally found out what the special run models would be and then we just sat around the lobby socializing while I awaited my +1 to arrive from Texas.  At about 3:45 we all loaded onto our buses according to the color group we were in and headed to the Scottsdale Museum of the West where the welcome reception was being held.  There were some finger foods being served and you could get a drink from the cash bar.  I didn't do either.  I just kind of sat around and watched everyone else.  That's what I do, though.  hahaha.  My +1 had gone off with her friends (I didn't expect her to stay with me), but came back after awhile and we socialized.  They had the special runs set out for us to look at ahead of time

These were the models closest to me so they're the ones I took pictures of.  I'm not going to lie.  I wasn't too thrilled with the options, which is strange since I like two of the molds available and conga one of them. 

Eventually we got tired and bored and "TX. H" (to differentiate her from "V's" friend with the same first initial) was ready for bed after the long drive from Texas so we boarded the bus and went back to the hotel.  As I left, I ran into a girl we'd met on the bus on the way to the museum.  She was attending from Kansas but has an uncle in the area so she was staying with him and was waiting for him to pick her up so I hung out with her while she waited. 

Saturday...what can I say about Saturday?  During the day was the trips to Schmersal Reining and RaeDawn Arabians.  I decided not to go.  I had already made sure "TX. H" could still go even if I wasn't then texted her to let her know I wasn't up to it.  I also let "V" know so she wouldn't expect me.  I was supposed to stay the night that night in the hotel with her and her friend, but I ended up not being able to do that either.  Oh well.  Such is life, right?  I did go to the dinner that night, though.  It had a Steam Punk theme and some of the costumes were pretty neat.  None of these photos are mine but the person who posted them to the event Facebook page gave permission to use them.  All were taken by Sandra Gibson

The dinner wasn't too bad.  It was served buffet style and it tasted pretty good.  I didn't discover the dessert table until everyone had already been through it and there was literally one item left.  hahaha.  A lot of people were taking more than one dessert, though, which wasn't cool.  The only issue I had was where it was located.  There didn't seem to be any consideration to people with mobility issues because it was a looooong walk from the lobby to the area where the dinner was held.  After dinner, "V" wasn't feeling well so she went back to their room (she'd gotten sick earlier while touring the horse barns) and I didn't really know anybody else, but they all went off to socialize and stuff.  I had no idea where "TX. H" had gotten off to so I decided it was time to go.  I think it was about 8pm.  Yeah, I'm a lightweight.  hahaha.  I get up early for work so I'm usually in bed fairly early, too.

Sunday was the big day.  The day of the special run store.  I met up with both "TX. H" and "V" at different times and was with "TX. H" when it was time for our color group to get into line.  Our color was the second group.  "TX. H" and I had already discussed which models we would get depending on who got there first.

 "V" and her friend "H" were near the front of the line and I was standing nearby with "TX. H" when we started to line up and she told me to just stay where I was.  And boy am I glad she did.  The gal from Breyer came out to start handing out numbers.  "V" and I just kind of stood there, dumbstruck, and the girl shook the little basket and said someone just grab a number so we both did and I got number 4.  "V" got number 3 and that was the number they called out as the first number so I was 2nd to go in.  You were allowed one model from Category A and one from Category B.  I conga Lady Phase and while I like the Show Jumping Warmblood mold, I didn't like the dark head with such a light muzzle.  "TX. H" wanted Chica Bonita so I was to try to get one for her and she would pay me for him.  Well, since I was second in line I was able to get both!  Even now I'm shocked at how that worked out and I will forever be grateful that "TX. H" insisted I stay by the door and that nobody caused a fuss when I grabbed a number.  It was only one spot so it's not like I took up a bunch of line places. 

Also on Sunday we picked up our Stablemates.

photo by holidays.net

I'm not fond of the mold or the color so I ended up selling him to a Blabber. 

After that we all just hung out and socialized for awhile.  "TX. H" and her friends decided to head back because the weather report had bad weather in New Mexico and they wanted to beat it so they took off.  I went with "V" and "H" back to their room so they could check out and then we took off to find some wild horses.  I was really hoping to be able show them some and we got lucky.  As we drove through the area, a small band trotted across the road ahead of us and then we saw some more at one of the recreation areas.  My Canadian visitors were quite happy.  It was a special experience few others got to have (I don't know if anyone else went out looking for them) while attending the event.  We went to Wal-Mart so they could get some things then had a wonderful dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  It was getting late so we decided to head for the airport, but first I showed "H" my neighborhood and house, too.  Just because I'm weird like that.  I then dropped them off at the airport.  Even though they'd come in on separate days, they were going back on the same flight, which was nice for them.  After I dropped them off I went home and crashed.  hahaha.

All in all, it was a nice event.  I liked how they did the special run line with the categories like that.  There were a couple of things I didn't like about the weekend, but I won't get into that.  I had told "TX. H" that I was glad to have finally been able to attend a collector event but I probably wouldn't do another and she said she probably wouldn't either, but I have since changed my mind.  I would do it again, but there are things I would definitely do differently.