It was just past 10 p.m. as we turned the corner at Seastar Lane and headed to my favorite hotel in the world -- not a bad arrival time considering we landed at about 8 p.m. -- and it was nice to see the familiar faces.

I turned up the AC in my room way high, combined with the ceiling fan at rocket speed, and it felt like I was home again. I was thinkin' of just crashing out after such a long travel day, but of course Seastar Inn host Chris was havin' none of it -- the party meister already was in his element, so we made our way to the bar ....