Regional Meetings

[Wyldewode]

There was some discussion on the Elohimfest 2007 thread about localizing gatherings, and it sparked some thoughts about having smaller events where Watchers can meet and mingle.

Any interest? And if so, tell me where you are so I can make some distinctions--like regions, and then have a poll or somesuch thing. See my example below.

Hey! It's Lyr. Count me in for a regional event. I live in southwest Missouri, so I could possibly be included in a southeast US, or else a midwest US event, depending on where it's held.

Thanks, everyone! Let's party!



~Lyr

[duchess of malfi]

This is duchess - we are thinking of taking of long weekend (maybe Memorial Day) and heading to Kentucky or maybe Tennessee in May. Anyone up for Kentucky or Tennessee in the springtime?

I would be open to considering any Great Lakes/Midwestern events at any time.

[Wyldewode]

Yay! I could probably swing Tennessee, especially if we did something in Memphis! Nashville would be okay too, but Memphis has Blues!

And May would be a good time for me, as I would have already have moved, and my best friend's wedding--and bridal showers and etc--will be done.

I am also open to considering midwestern events throughout the year.

Anyone else?

[dlbpharmd]

I live in East Tennessee, just a few miles north of Knoxville. I could probably make any gathering in Nashville or Memphis, and most likely in Kentucky as well.

[duchess of malfi]

I would have my kids with me and have never been to Memphis - are there older kids friendly things as well (I would love to go club crawling through good Blues bars, but I do not think they would let my kids in. )

Same with Nashville - was only there once for my father's funeral when my older sister briefly lived in Gallatin. And for obvious reasons we did not see any sights on that trip. Any older (18 and 14) kid friendly things and/or places there that would not bore adults to death?

[dlbpharmd]

I don't know Nashville that well, so I can't really say. I did live in Memphis for 5 years. The downtown area around Peabody Place has some great stuff for your teenagers, including the most awesome arcade I've ever been in. IIRC it was called Jillian's. This area isn't far from Beale Street. The Civil Rights Museum is close to there as well. I'll ask some of my friends and see what other suggestions they might have.

[Creator]

"stickied" per Wyldewode request!

[danlo]

This brings up an idea that was kicked around when we first started talking about Elohimfest '04. Having a open web interview with SRD with a bunch of Watchers hovering around comps at different locations. But all the local gatherings would have to be planned at the same time. It's not easy to put together but Romeo and our tech guys here could probably do it--we'd probably have to front the cost.

[Wyldewode]

"stickied" per Wyldewode request!

Thank you!

[Creator]

You're welcome!

[A Gunslinger]

Chi-town anyone? Late summer?

[duchess of malfi]

Depends on whether or not people are bringing children. Chicago is fine for adults - Wisconsin Dells is more fun for a bunch of littles or teens in the summer. But I spent more than a week in Chicago/Madison/Dells last summer...so would prefer a different location for this summer for a Great Lakes area get together.

Lake Michigan is always fine in the summer. In fact, I already have camping reservations for the top of a sand dune on the Lake in Muskegon State Park for the week of July 4. Anyone Midwesterners into camping on a wonderful sandy beach? (Provided I get the week off, of course ).

I should add that goes for the Kentucky/Tennessee thing, too. We have to put in our vacation requests for an entire year by January 31. We have to pick blind, not knowing what dates other people are picking. Then it all goes into a hat and the supervisors pick who gets off what time. Supposedly they pick by some weird combination of seniority and who got what peak times off the year before - but how they actually pick this is a mystery to us all...

So we will see - and as soon as I know about a long weekend in May I will let everyone know, so we can maybe plan something in Tennesee? I am hoping for Memorial Day, but might have to switch to a different weekend if someone else gets it. I will supposedly know in early March...

[A Gunslinger]

Depends on whether or not people are bringing children. Chicago is fine for adults - Wisconsin Dells is more fun for a bunch of littles or teens in the summer. But I spent more than a week in Chicago/Madison/Dells last summer...so would prefer a different location for this summer for a Great Lakes area get together.

Lake Michigan is always fine in the summer. In fact, I already have camping reservations for the top of a sand dune on the Lake in Muskegon State Park for the week of July 4. Anyone Midwesterners into camping on a wonderful sandy beach? (Provided I get the week off, of course ).

I should add that goes for the Kentucky/Tennessee thing, too. We have to put in our vacation requests for an entire year by January 31. We have to pick blind, not knowing what dates other people are picking. Then it all goes into a hat and the supervisors pick who gets off what time. Supposedly they pick by some weird combination of seniority and who got what peak times off the year before - but how they actually pick this is a mystery to us all...

So we will see - and as soon as I know about a long weekend in May I will let everyone know, so we can maybe plan something in Tennesee? I am hoping for Memorial Day, but might have to switch to a different weekend if someone else gets it. I will supposedly know in early March...

Where'd you go in madison? That's very near to where I live now!! Fun wasn't it?

[Fist and Faith]

I would have my kids with me and have never been to Memphis - are there older kids friendly things as well (I would love to go club crawling through good Blues bars, but I do not think they would let my kids in. )

I wish Jeff Foxworthy was here to respond.

[Damelon]

Chi-town anyone? Late summer?

If you go down to Chicago late in the summer, let me know.

Though Madison is a fun town to hook up in. First time I was in Madison, the year before I went to college, I saw Lady Liberty sticking up through the ice of Lake Mendota:


I found out years later from a friend who went to UW that it was sponsored by the student government.

[Wyldewode]

Though Madison is a fun town to hook up in. First time I was in Madison, the year before I went to college, I saw Lady Liberty sticking up through the ice of Lake Mendota:


I found out years later from a friend who went to UW that it was sponsored by the student government.

That is soo cool!

I'm guessing that I can't do Chicago. It's over a 10 hour drive for me, and since I am planning on having a new job by then I won't exactly be able to just ask for any old time off for vacation. Sorry, Guns. . . Damelon.

[duchess of malfi]

Depends on whether or not people are bringing children. Chicago is fine for adults - Wisconsin Dells is more fun for a bunch of littles or teens in the summer. But I spent more than a week in Chicago/Madison/Dells last summer...so would prefer a different location for this summer for a Great Lakes area get together.

Where'd you go in madison? That's very near to where I live now!! Fun wasn't it?

We spent a few days In Chicago (King Tut exhibit, White Sox game ,and Chicago Blues Festival), then went up to Madison. We ate dinner in a really nice Italian restaurant downtown, walked and drove around town, spent the night in a hotel, then went to Spring Green to visit Taliesin the next morning. Taliesin is awesome. Then we visited the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, which was a wonderful place for people who love birds. We got see a pair of whooping cranes with their chick. Then the Dells. I cannot say enough good things about teenagers and the Great Wolf Lodge. My husband and I actually got to go out by ourselves for dinners because we couldn't drag the kids out the pools (which were all surrounded by life guards so the kids were perfectly safe). At the Dells, one of those private dinners was at the most romantic restaurant we have ever been in - the Ishnala Supper Club. It was this ultimate log cabin with all sorts of decks and picture windows overlooking this pretty little lake in Mirror Lake State Park. The food was good, and the atmosphere was wonderful. There were tree trunks coming up from the floor and going up through the ceiling - yes, the restuarant was built around a grove of trees! After the Dells we went back to Chicago (Cubbies, Blue Man Group, Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry).

The one thing I should say about Chicago is that the last two times I went there (last June and last January) I was really harrassed by very agressive pan handlers. In the worst June incident this guy (who was pretty obviously on mind altering substances) followed us all of the way from the Field Museum back to our hotel on Michigan Ave. He harrassed us the entire way. It was actually sort of frightening. We were checking out that morning anyway to go to Madison, and when we pulled out in my Jeep about an hour later, he saw us and came running up to yell some more, and was very unpleasant.

I had a very bad and scarey experience with another such guy last January.

So if people want to get together in Chicago, please be aware that the city is filled to the brim with street people these days. Most of them are very polite and harmless. But a few are people you just do not want to run into. And it does not seem to matter which part of the city you are in - these poor people are everywhere.

And I say that as someone who lives near Detroit, goes there all the time, and has never had an incident like the ones in Chicago happen in Detroit. I have been going to Detroit for more than 40 years and have never once been frightened there or had a negative experience. The last two times I went to Chicago, aggresive pan handlers scared the pee out of me.

[Wyldewode]

That's too bad, Duchess.

I've been to Chicago more times than I'd like to remember (at least sometimes!). After my first year of college I took time off of school and worked for my parents helping out with their decorative woodwork/furniture business. My parents had quite a few stores in the greater Chicago area that stocked our products, and we would make the drive up over the weekend to restock the stores. Sometimes we also did juried craft shows in Chicago as well-the kind with the really nice things for sale--not poorly made junk. I bet we made about 48 trips to Chicago each year, and I worked for them over the course of two years before I returned to school full time.

Of course, since we were there for business we rarely got to do much in the way of fun things. *shrugs* Maybe someday I'll get around to visiting Chicago for fun.

[Damelon]

No matter what you like to do the chance is pretty good that you can find it in Chicago, Wylde. Go there for fun some day!

Just don't stay at the McCormick Place Hyatt. Good deals can be found there but it comes at a price. McCormick Place, the Convention Center in Chicago, isn't near to any other attractions and is not on the El line, so you'd have to cab it to anywhere else.

Also, if you drive to Chicago, leave your car in the garage. Parking is expensive and it's tough to find parking on the street. Take the CTA during the day and cab it at night.

I've worked, at various times, in Chicago for a total of over 10 years and have been going there for this or that for most of my life. I can't think of more than a couple of memorable encounters with panhandlers. It appears to me that there are fewer today than in the late '80's. Don't let that keep you from coming to town.

[duchess of malfi]

Regardless, if these guys are going to act that way towards a completely harmless middle aged woman accompanied by her children in broad daylight, next to a major tourist attraction (in both of the worst cases the Field Museum) - God help anyone silly or unlucky enough to be walking alone (or even part of a couple) after dark and running into them.

I have been going to Chicago one or twice a year for a long time now with my family, and it seems that there are more street people and more aggressive ones, every time we have gone there - last summer being by far the worst.

Most of the ones who were polite to us and we conversed with all said that they lived in Grant Park, which might be why the two ugliest incidents happened on the grounds of Field.

So if people go there in the summer - take care in Grant Park, and do not go there after dark unless part of a large crowd (a music festival or the like). And for God's sake - be very careful in the Loop after dark and on the weekends. The Loop is fine when all of the office workers are around, but it is like a very creepy ghost town at night and on the weekend - again, do not go there unless you are part of a crowd.