Snow_Dog wrote on Mar 11^th, 2013 at 3:34pm:

Also it's unfortunate that pretty much all of you had left by the time db gave out this year's door prize which I was lucky enough to receive!

That particular door prize gets "re-gifted" quite a lot and not just for QJ celebrations!

I agree with Snow_Dog's earlier comment re: highlights.  Conversing & sharing with QJer's, in-person, IS the big deal for me.  This was the first Copia in years where I didn't buy ANY new toys.  Nevertheless, I attended & thoroughly enjoyed five separate meals involving multiple QJer's (yes, I like to eat).

Also, I salute Old Salt's efforts to get QJer's to pull together a presentation of some sort downstream.  We had a good discussion producing plenty of food for thought.  Nevertheless, I have some serious cogitating to do regarding what hard-hitting topic I would interested in and best able to contribute to.

Re: shows :  I attended the "knots" seminar (mildly amusing but the speaker didn't really talk about knots during the first half-hour).  I'm not sure you can really do much w/knots without either having cord in the hands of everyone in the audience OR doing the whole presentation in conjunction with high-quality pics & video.  This presentation offered neither and therefore, especially for folks in the back of the room, its value was much diminished.  Only the speaker's folk humor saved the presentation.  He's a natural entertainer.

Kevin Callan's presentation on his WCPP trip was good & well-worth it.  However, as THE reigning humorist & entertainer of northern paddling, I guess I had hoped for more from him in his film.  I thought his video did the park justice (good pics) but I guess I wasn't as high on it as were other QJer's who commented to me about it.  Kevin did experience some minor technical issues in getting the video to run right during the Saturday afternoon session that I attended, but nothing fatal.   What he did eventually splice together was entertaining but I felt it was uneven in quality (& coverage of the WCPP route that he took).  His paddling buddy, Andy, is certainly an amusing character... possibly the 2nd coming of Red Skelton.

Darryl Blazino's "20 Favorite Places in Quetico" was worthy even though MY 20 favorite spots - and those of everyone else in the audience - wouldn't look much like his.   Darryl's feeling for the park did shine through his high quality pics & video - several involving his children - making this a worthy presentation that resonated well with families.  One minor beef would be that several of his pics really didn't pertain to the particular spot he was discussing (ie. came from locations other than what he was talking about) but most of the folks in the audience would not likely have picked that up.  I guess he was going more for "flavor" than for rigorous geographical accuracy... which he did to good effect.  The presentation was likely distilled from his new book as a convenient by-product... & a means to promote its publication.

Those were the three presentations I attended and I was happy with them.  I WISH I had taken in the Marshall presentation that Martin speaks so highly of!

The vendors on the floor were pretty much what I expected based upon years of attending this event.  A few new offerings did grab my attention (but not my bucks).  Maybe next year.  Of course, by then, the tide may well have swept aside the monicker "Canoe"Copia in favor of "Kayak-Copia." 

I will be attending the Midwest Mountaineering Show next month.  My expectation is that the vendor offerings will be much more on-target for advanced paddling & camping needs.  However, the MM seminars, while good, are unlikely to offer the variety of the Copia event.

That's how I see it, anyway.  It was a very fine weekend.

Jimbo   8-)