Wednesday morning arrived the same way as Sunday, Monday and Tuesday - with an alarm on my phone going off. 

To start at the end, today nearly ended with a double-disaster for yours truly. I was out walking after finishing with the clinics I was going to today when I spotted a US Army Apache helicopter flying over the downtown SLC area. Maybe the natives are used to it, but that was something that made me grab for the camera I had on a sling by my side.

And I dropped my cell phone, face down, on the concrete sidewalk.

With the first day of the 2019 NMRA Convention completed more-or-less successfully (unless you were a passenger on the bus that broke down), Day 2 appeared to be getting into the groove of the thing. At 8am 5 separate clinics, including a Make 'n' Take and the LD-SIG Bootcamp started up, as well as 3 separate layout tours and a General Interest Tour - Promontory Summit - There and Back. 

Day 0: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/36969

Okay, Salt Lake City, time for you to take your lumps. Or more properly, the construction zone masquerading as an airport.

Day 1: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/36979

And..... I'm back! 

I arrived at the Little America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah about noon today (Saturday). 

I know, you're saying, "Hey, Jeff - the convention doesn't start until Sunday!" 

You're right... but the NMRA Board of Director's meeting is on Saturday and I was going to see if I could make it for that..... and it started at 9am. Nope. 

I've only been to a few PNR Regional Conventions in the past, aside from assisting in running the 2018 one in Portland last year. In my limited experience, they are a scaled down version of the NMRA national - you have clinics, layout tours, prototype tours, non-rail tours and activities, a contest/celebration room, possibly a silent auction, and lots of people wandering around with big white nametags hanging from their necks.

You just don't have as many of them, which can make deciding what to do next a lot easier. 

Despite the snow Friday night and the really ugly roads Saturday morning in the Portland, Oregon area, the 2019 Bridgetown RPM went off as scheduled today at the Airport Shilo Inn hotel - and frankly, if this is what it looks like after attendance is cut due to bad weather, I'm a little scared what it might have been like if the weather had been good - every table in the room was full and they had to bring in an extra one after it started.

Update: someone asked that I explain where the Railroad Hobby Show is. Indeed, up until a few years ago, I had no idea what people were talking about when they mentioned "the Springfield show."

The Railroad Hobby Show is put on by the Amherst Railway Society at the Eastern States Exposition Center (Big E) in West Springfield, Massachusetts in late January or early February. Thus it is known as "The Railroad Hobby Show," "The Big E show," "The Amherst Show," or "The Springfield Show."

End update.

Okay, this is going to be cell phone photos at first, and DSLR shots later tonight. 

Update: someone asked that I explain where the Railroad Hobby Show is. Indeed, up until a few years ago, I had no idea what people were talking about when they mentioned "the Springfield show."

It's ugly... but with 28,000 Lumens of light in a one car garage, I'll take it.

I just added 4 of those LED shop lights they have been selling at Costco:

So that's 4 shop lights (16K), and 12 1K LED bulbs....

I might have enough light for photography now....