Hole 1: "The Arrival"

After meeting at the Spokane airport, we checked out our rental car and headed into Spokane. This area of eastern Washington is beautiful, and it's easy to see how a city in such great surroundings makes the ideal home for a company dedicated to recreating vivid natural environments. The map to the hotel that Cyan had provided for us took us right through the middle of downtown Spokane. It was interesting to see the place that the Cyanists call home. We were glad to be able to arrive a day early, just to get the chance to look around. Spokane seems like a great place.

Though we almost missed the sign, we managed to find our hotel without any problems (except for Doug having to remind Gordon that the speed limits were in miles per hour instead of kilometers.) We dropped off our bags in our room, and then asked the receptionist at the front desk if she could recommend a good restaurant nearby.

"Well," she said, "there's a place down the road called 'Chapter Eleven', or there's a 'Red Robin' right across the street."

The CYAN Dineing Mecca For some reason the mention of the "Red Robin" in Spokane sounded familiar to us, although we couldn't remember why. (Besides, it sounded better than a restaurant whose name synonymous with 'bankruptcy'.) We headed across the street to the Red Robin.

After finishing our meal, we sat there in the bright red booth and talked with anticipation about tomorrow's events. It almost didn't seem like we were really in Spokane, and that we were really going to visit Cyan tomorrow. Through our entire meal we both kept trying to remember what the significance of "Red Robin" was, yet neither of us could put a finger on it. And then, for some reason, just before getting up to leave, our eyes were simultaneously drawn upward to a poster almost directly above our table: ChannelWood. It was as if the poster were an emblem validating our presence here.

Channelwood Poster at Red Robin And then it came to us. This Red Robin is the place mentioned in the Wired article that is supposed to be a favorite hangout of the Cyan team. We also remembered an obscure comment long ago on the Riven Lyst when RAWA mentioned their frequent visits to Red Robin. (RAWA's comment had something to do with the fact that he always orders the exact same thing at Red Robin, a bit of trivia which is also alluded to in this paragraph on the Cyan web page.) We were truly in Cyan's territory now.

"Though our flights were scheduled to arrive in Spokane within five minutes of each other, Gordon's flight was actually delayed, so I was looking for him for about an hour. Since I'd never been to Washington before, and didn't know anyone in Spokane except for people at Cyan, I think I started to get a little nervous. (Remember, before this time Gordon and I had never met face to face either.) As I waited, faces of strangers started to look more and more like the photos posted on the Cyan Team page I could have sworn I saw John Biggs, as if the somebody from Cyan knew Gordon would be late, and they sent John to come get me. The funny thing is that after Gordon finally arrived, he mentioned that he had the same experience of "seeing Cyanists in the crowd" while he was looking for me. (He swears Robyn Miller passed him at least three times.) It was great to finally meet Gordon face to face after working together all this time." commented Doug.

"The flight to Spokane took most of one whole day but I was so pumped on meeting Doug for the first time and seeing the Cyan headquarters....it was all I could do to sit still on the plane. As the flight landed I was amazed at how beautiful Spokane was and how green it was. The pine trees, the grass, the layout....breathtaking. When we got to the restaurant, it was really eerie seeing the Channelwood poster....but in a sense sort of like a homecoming. After supper we drove by (slowly I might add) the CYAN headquarters. Security was tight and I seriously considered scaling the wall (okay the fence) but Doug recommended against it. The Spokane City Police were thick in these parts so I took Doug's advice and waited till morning before we entered." recalled Gordon.

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All photos © 1998 - Doug McBride.

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