Steven Kirk was there too so we had a double fun night. Brian gave us a tour of his workshop and of the new workshop he is putting in. 
We had a few glasses of wine and a very lovely lasagna made by Leigh for dinner. It was really a pleasant way to spend the evening. I got some great video of the guys geeking out as guys do. I also really enjoyed talking with Leigh. It was really a wonderful evening.
I got a chance to try Kirk's box and gave up after a bit. Later on, Brian and I solved it. Steven had to leave around 9 as he lives 2 hours away, and George went to bed. I stayed up and enjoyed the conversation. All too soon we were yawning. The next morning Brian made breakfast for us. he even made me a sunny side up egg. When I giggled about it, he told me he reads my blog! How sweet of him. I guess around an hour after breakfast we had to leave for our next stop in Virginia. Thankfully, it was only a few hours drive away. As we left, Brian gave us a large box full of donated puzzles for the museum. His shelf is really filling up. And did I forget to mention the t-shirts that were waiting on the bed for us? What a guy!
Our next stop was with Andrea and Bill Ritchie. We arrived at a reasonable hour and managed to have a chance to sit down and chat. They first showed us to the cabin we would be staying in, then we went on to the house to get a tour and a lot of ideas for the castle. Thank you Andrea! Bill gave us a talk about the start of the Binary Arts company and it was in 4 parts. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) They very kindly gave us a copy of the very first prototype for Hexadecimal, and showed us a number of other puzzles made by the inventor of that puzzle.
Bill took us to see his shrine room and then we had a lovely dinner. Again, it was a lovely evening that ended all too soon. The next morning Andrea had to get up to go to an appointment early and George and I had a bit of a lie in. Around 9 we went over to the house to say our goodbyes to Bill, but ended up spending another 2 hours chatting with him.
When we left, we drove another hour and a half to meet with Genesis Chapman who had 13 puzzle sculptures ready for us to pick up. We thought we would be later in the day, but by this time, I'm so far off on my scheduling that it isn't funny. After we arrived and saw the workshop, 
we walked to Dots and had a nice lunch (I had eggs and bacon yet again. I just can't get enough of those!)
Upon our return to his house, we went inside and saw the puzzles and began to box them up. It took about an hour as many had to be disassembled. 
George had a nap on the sofa while Genesis and I chatted. I even managed to snag two aliens that he hadn't shown me before. They are so cute! 
Around 5 we took off for Georgia and our next puzzle party. What a wonderful, crammed full of puzzling 3 days this was.
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