At one point during the con somebody pointed a camera towards me and asked if I could say a few words. I told them that MFF was the best con in America, the main reason being that I genuinely think it is. Okay, so there's lots of cons in the US and other than MFF I've only got AC and FC to compare it to, but my trips to MFF have been my most enjoyable con experiences to date. The crowd is great, there's quite a few people I know, and the hotel is bloody excellent.
And MFF '12 certainly didn't disappoint.
There WAS something missing, though -  AndyFox, who has been a great room partner and friend through 9 previous cons, couldn't be there this year. However, despite this ( very large ) fox shaped hole, there were plenty of other cute critters to keep me company. Squirrels and otters and mice and bears and badgers, amongst others.

I left Ireland early Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Chicago just after 3pm local time, making my way downtown by cab. It was an expensive ride - $35 - but I really didn't want to be hauling my fursuit about on the bus or train. I stayed in a hotel in 'The Loop' for two nights, pretty much just wandering about the city during that time. Didn't go up in the Willis Tower as I did that last time I was in Chicago, but seeing that a couple of fursuiters subsequently got permission to suit on the skydeck makes me regret that now! I probably would have been too chicken to ask, anyway.

I took another cab to the Hyatt on Thursday afternoon ( yeah, another $35 ) and despite being a couple of hours before the offical check in time, my room was already available. I was in one of the circular sections of the building - a room with an enormous window but one which got very narrow towards the door. A bit like a slice of pie, actually.
Dropped off my bags and quickly went downstairs to see who was about. Ran into  norfox, but aside from him I didn't see anyone I knew ( it was still only 1pm ) and I decided to go get some dinner. Walked down to Gibson's steakhouse and got myself a nice meal of filet medallions and mashed potato. A great restaurant but pretty expensive.
When I got back to the hotel about an hour later I quickly ran into  scooter_squirrel &  white-paw, who were easy to find as Scooter was wearing his enormous Fluff the bunny plushiesuit.
Then I ran into several more familiar faces, the con coming alive very quickly.

I was a sponsor this year, which meant I could register at 4:30pm. Fastest registration line ever - I think I was only in it for less than 5 mins.
I did a little fursuiting after registration, finding a few more familiar faces in the process. Or to be more truthful, they found me. One thing I tend to be pretty bad at is identifying faces, unless they happen to be people I've met quite a few times. So sometimes someone would come up and say 'hi' and it would take me a few seconds to figure out who they were. So if I passed you by without saying hello, many apologies for that. Maybe I need to study mugshots before each con.

Anyway... rather than go through the con day by day, here's the highlights:

* A certain fursuiter dragging me and Norfox around the parking lot, then taking a drag from a bong and squeaking "This is some good shit!" as smoke billowed from his mouth.

* Snuggling up with Twilight Bunny on a sofa for a few minutes. Also got to meet  yippee out of suit for the first time.

* Getting lots of time to hang out with furs I only met briefly before such as  dariomouse,  haal &  begger, plus having a couple of nice chats with  skippyfoxcub and a few new people.

* Seeing  Jbadger's new suit... although what it is I'm not saying.

* Seeing  manukoa's suit for the first time ( superb! )

* Meeting  mysteryotter for the first time. I know who you are, otter! Maybe.

* Doing fursuit charades for the first time, which was quite fun. I somehow managed to convey 'Eiffel Tower' pretty quickly, although as to how 'Chthulu' ended up in the mix is anyone's guess.

* Getting to meet lots of furs I'd met at both CF and EF earlier in the year. It was kind of surreal seeing the same people thousands of miles away from where we met before. Us furries get around.

*  zachhart12 and a few others totally cracking up when I tried to deal with a lack of cups in the headless lounge by placing my hand under the water dispenser and catching some drops.

* Attending a goat/boat photoshoot with several other hoofers.

Negatives?

Only one real one I can think of.
I intended to take part in the fursuit games but during the first round I split a seam in my knee. Had to go back to the room to do a patch up job on it and ended up missing most of the games. Oh well...

Will I be there again next year? No idea. I'd like to be, but 12 months is a long time. We'll see what happens.