We wandered along the waterfront and through back alleys, searching for the place that Van Horn wanted to see. At last we found it: The Safe House. Outside it was a faux facade for a theatre, while to the side of it was the real entrance to this... bar I guess would be the closest. Night spot would be a better term. It's a $2 cover fee and there were lots of people trying to get in. Luckily, the doorguys didn't make us do anything stupid, though later on I did see some shananigans. There's a video feed of the entrance run throughout the place so that people inside can see the silly things that they make people do, like playing with a hula-hoop, which is the one I saw.

As you might have guessed, the Safe House has a spy/James Bond motiff. And boy was it packed that night. We wanted to eat before we left to pick up Woo, but everything was already reserved so we couldn't get into the dining room. We wandered around a bit and had a couple of drinks. Lots of false stairs and hidden passages and trick areas. The phone booth leads to the bathroom and so forth. And of course the requisite annoyingly loud music and everybody yelling to be heard. It was not a fun place that night. Maybe some other night when it's quieter, but not this night. Well, it *is* an experience.

By then Woo called saying he had arrived so we left in a hurry and walked back to the hotel. It was a 15 minute drive to the airport where we picked up Woo, then back to the hotel. It was like after 21:00 by then and Chris kept complaining that he was hungry and he wanted a good steak. We had a AAA tour book for Milwaukee and there were a couple of possibilities. But as we came out of the garage Sweet had the brilliant idea of asking the door lady for a recommendation. She pointed us to Moe's, right around the corner.

We walked on over, and it looked like a nice place. It had valet parking and a doorman even! We went in and had possibly the best meal of our lives. First comes the waiter and he gives this spiel about the quality of the steaks here and the specials of course. I think Sweet goes with whatever the waiter recommends, that's his current theory when ordering at a new restaurant. I get the biggest steak they have. We order a few sides -- garlic mashed potatoes, some sort of greens, I don't know what else. I think I had soup too. And we had the Seafood Platter appetizer, which alone costs $70, but it was soooo yummy!

A huge amount of food and a couple of hours to eat it and dessert too and you add it all up and it was $330 for four people. Woo paid and that's the only thing we let him pay for that weekend. Oh, there were even different types of bread and the ambiance was elegant and it's a good thing we're well paid. We staggered out the door at about midnight and got back to the hotel.

I think we stayed up a bit doing nothing much. Little Chris came back from his day of gaming. He mentioned that Troy was still playing in some tourney and he was quite sad that he missed the steak, since he still wanted to eat at a steakhouse, which I promised we would do at least once during this vacation.

So, we didn't have an extra room and even Van Horn was stuck with us. That made it six people in a room with two beds. Sweet, being the selfless guy that he is, took a pillow and a blanket and slept on the floor. Too bad he decided to sleep right where the air conditioner blows to the floor. Van Horn and Woo slept on the real bed. Chris and I slept on the pull out. That left Troy to fend for himself when he came back. I think he slept on one of the comfy chairs, but he left early in any event.

And so ended our first day at Gen Con. This is the kind of vacation that I like. Drive around, relax, eat good food. No way was I going to play a bunch of games and try to accomplish a lot of things. Really, this whole trip was just an excuse for a road trip and to visit Billy. And even then I wouldn't have done it but that Ms Leick was booked as a guest. It was a justification to myself and even if I didn't end up seeing her it was a good trip. Not that I'm setting you up for anything come Friday's tale.