Or, Phoenix was one of the suggestions ....

If I hit the lottery, I say Vegas, Seattle, and San Francisco all sound lovely. If I don't hit the lottery, I can't go, unless it's within driving distance from my house.

So the important point here? I need to hit the lottery. If I do, prom's on me.

Having experienced Deb-organized shindigs in the past -- and I mean shindig WEEKENDS -- she is a really really spectacular organizer. She plans for every need/want, without ever pushing people into things they really don't want to do. If the F2F ends up in SF, I vote Deb, as long as she's willing to do it.

(And if other people want to help, s'cool, but Deb should be the Grand Organizatrix.)

Tep is me.

The SF leg of NillyTour 2004 was wonderfully organized in a Not Too Organized way. And I'm all for another weekend in SF. I think this time I'd even go on the wine tours and the Great Hecubus Park Walk.

Of course, I'd love to see Seattle, too.

The List of Places:

Candidates:

• Seattle (Susan, with Plei and Jilli as minions)
• San Francisco (Deb)

Nominees without contacts:

• Phoenix
• San Diego
• Las Vegas

Yep, I'm happy to organise, do hotel contacting, whatever is needed. And San Fran should include the greater Bay Area, although I don't think a hotel in, say, downtown Milpitas is going to make anyone happy...

Man, I wonder how much it would cost to just rent The Inn Above Tide for a long weekend...?

edit: yes, that's pure wishful thinking. Besides, no one would ever leave the hotel.

This place is just a short hop from both Chez Zmayhem and Casa Grabien, close enough to the funk and liveliness of Haight Street to enjoy it without wanting to kill, 3 blocks from the streetcar's 4-minute ride to the Castro and 10-minute ride to the heart of downtown SF, and they serve afternoon tea.

The rooms are pretty too.

Room rates are here. Not cheap, but not bad (and that's without even looking for a group rate); they have suites, and rollaway beds for an extra $20, and the whole place is WiFi'd and handicapped-accessible.

Tom Scola stayed here a couple of years ago and liked it very much, IIRC, but I'll leave it to him to provide actual, like, details and facts.

Matt and beth stayed at the Stanyan Park after my big Halloween do; I seem to recall they loved it.

There are masses, and I do mean masses, of San Francisco hotels. We luckily don't suffer from what I think of as London or NYC Hote Syndrome: the Ritz or the pits, with little in between. The trick is to not look at the Mark Hopkins or the Fairmont and go, ooooh! Let's stay there!

Should I be getting hotel costing now? I'd need to know.

And JZ, BTW, I sent out an email - we're doing a wander in and out, most of the day watch-eat-drink-hang out this Saturday, for the Live 8 show. People will be literally wandering in and out, watching the live feed of the round the globe concerts. Let me know if you guys are coming.

That goes for Lexine, too - must re-ping her. I know Perkins and Sparky are both in Seattle this weekend. But anyway, mini-F2F at our place.

Deb, if you don't need dates, you can certainly start getting estimates. It certainly can't hurt with the decision-making.

Will do - but for now, off to go play. '