kproche and I hopped a plane to Denver Friday evening for their Coronation weekend. It's a good thing that K's reign is over, and we're doing a lot less of this, or I don't think we'd survive.

We got in to the hotel just in time to meet mishalak (who had never been exposed to the Imperial Court) and catch the bus tour around the bars of Denver. The Kiki bus was packed to the gills already so we joined Emperor Paul's bus. Bus tours are always amusing, but Denver beat even Chicago's Trolley bus tour with a pair of old English double-decker Routemasters. The bus was divided into chanting and non-chanting sections, with the upper deck being the loud one. We got a nice early start and made 4 stops (BJ's Carousel, The Brig / The Compound, Charlie's and Triangle) with plenty of time at each for a drink or two. The smoke almost killed me (I like living in California) but it was most excellent.

Saturday we turned in K's protocol and spent the afternoon hanging out and chatting with folks in hospitality. Denver does a really nice hospitality suite. Emperor Greg Brockman of Iowa, Emperor Martin "Canadian Bacon Fat" Storm of Surrey and other members of the Imperial House of Fat were selling T-shirts and collecting donations for Empress Kiki's (founder of the Imperial House of Fat) and Emperor Paul's charity fund.

The Coronation Ball itself, while not the epitome of organization started on time and went pretty well. Court walks/presentations were all in the first act, which was a pleasant change. Regent Emperor Michael and Empress Crystal de Light of Nebraska did a fabulous entrance with their court in beautiful orentalia. Candidate and command performances were all excellent. At the end of the evening, Lamarr and Scarlett Fever were crowned the new Emperor and Empress of Denver.

All that done, we returned to hospitality for pizza (lots of pizza) and drinks (lots of drinks).

A reasonable night's sleep later, we packed up the room and went down to victory brunch, where Kiki and Paul gave out a bunch of awards to folks who helped them during their year. Scarlett Fever was presented with her "Facet of the Crystal" and is now "The Rapture of the Crystal" (tho I expect that "The Epidemic of the Crystal" will probably stick) and a rock (which was promptly stolen, and which she's going to have to raise $2k for charity to ransom). Lamarr was presented with the new "Coat of Many Drawers" to which he has to add 5 pairs of underwear (not his, not his friends') before passing on to another new emperor at another victory brunch.

Victory party wasn't until after we needed to be back at the airport, so we finished up the afternoon sitting in the lobby, reading the paper, chatting with folks and catching up on email through the free wi-fi.