No March or April dates for NC?

NC in May is a lot like NOLA in May. But somewhat less humid.

But yes, Mother's Day weekend is an absolute no-no unless you want a hotel somewhere like Hillsborough. Not that there's anything wrong with Hillsborough, but transportation issues would be worse.

Another nice thing about Salem that doesn't get attention. Right near the pedestrian mall that's downtown, or at least tourist central, there's a residential street full of Federalist-style homes built in the 1790s. It's a delightful walk on a sunny day.

Yay flea for NC pimpage! Weather is lovely here in March and April.

I'll look into hotels next week. In the meantime, some esoteric pimping info (and Buffista tour!):

I'm sure flea and amych and Calli know a lot about Durham that I don't, in terms of where to eat/drink/hang out, but here are a few of the Big Highlights:

Duke Forest
Duke Gardens
Eno River (where smonster and I first met Calli at their annual Festival)

In Carrboro/Chapel Hill we have:

Cat's Cradle (for music, as well as lots of other live music venues in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and Raleigh, as flea mentioned.)
Many, many drinking establishments, including The Cave (included here mainly because I just stumbled across their website and it cracks me up. Actually, The Cave is quite small, and probably couldn't handle a full F2F's worth of Buffistae) and The Orange County Social Club (where I believe Drew once posted to b.org from)
Wootini a store for Buffistas.
Time After Time, where amych once bought a Batman lunch box.
In nearby Pittsboro, we have Beggars and Choosers, a three-story vintage/thrift lovefest. Notable also because my pal, Allen, is dead center in the picture on the front of the web page.
Also in Pittsboro, The General Store, home of delicious vegetarian lunches, and site of a Buffista lunch, long ago.
A kickass drag king troupe.
Our local organic grocery/food coop/neighborhood hangout for the whole dang town, which SA can attest to being hippie-tastic. Stand still at this location for long enough, and you will see Darth. FACT.
Our nearby dairy farm, with an ice cream store, which serves homemade ice cream, and sports a huge porch that looks over the countryside. They also have a Got Milk? poster with Boreanaz on it by the cash register.

For your entertainment, a rap about Carrboro, which lists many of its, um, charms, complete with links! And they also made an accompanying video. And, oh yeah, they made a blog. Like you do.

This seems hilarious in comparison to Boston and New York. But yeah. That's where I live. If you come, we will give you sweet tea.

(Actual helpful links to Orange County Visitors Bureau and Durham County's Official Tourism and Information Site.)

A kickass drag king troupe.

LOVE. THEM.

If you come, we will give you sweet tea.

Love this, too.

A kickass drag king troupe.

Ooh, hey, I know one of them.

And sweet tea is teh yum.

Also chiming in on the joys of sweet tea. Especially when washing down barbecue.

juliana, while putting together that crazy list of links, I noticed that Old Crow Medicine Show is playing at the Cat's Cradle on Oct. 22, and I thought of you. mwah.

Ooh, hey, I know one of them.

Which one?

Especially when washing down barbecue.

Oh yeah, I forgot about barbecue! Whoops. We have that too.

Pat Riarch. (Is that still her stage name? I didn't go to the link.) Her mom was the minister of our church, of all things.

I will put in a few words for Atlanta, although its desirability is dependent on when the F2F is and whether we can get a good price on a hotel near a MARTA line.

Pros: One of the world's busiest airports, which means that fares are usually pretty good

The High Museum [link] The High is in a three-year partnership with The Louvre and will have a number of paintings from The Louvre on display.

CNN - Really a pretty good tour, although it makes you grateful that you don't work somewhere where tourists can look down on your work from a catwalk.

The World of Coca-Cola [link] - Fun and interesting. I go for the original Haddon Sunblooms, he being the man who showed us what Santa Claus looked like, but there is also a lot of interesting Coke and soft drink history; many bells and whistles; and a room where you can taste Coke products from around the world (flower-flavored soda, anyone?)

The Georgia Aquarium [link] currently the world's largest. Whale sharks! Penguins! Near Ikea!

Atlanta Zoo. Baby gorillas [link] Pandas! Tigers!

The Cyclorama [link] - One of the last remaining 19th century circular paintings. It shows the Battle of Atlanta.

Stone Mountain - world's largest piece of exposed granit

Many of the usual shopping venues, although we are sadly lacking a Lush, except of the lower-case variety. We get Trader Joe's this fall.

Quite a few good music venues

If it's in April or early May, the most beautiful spring you have ever seen. Dogwoods, azaleas, daffodils in great swaths of color.

Cons:

Almost no Buffistas. It's me and Bicyclops and his DW. I have experience in running conventions, but the other proposed venues have far more localistas.

Atlanta is a very car-oriented city. We can get to many places without a car if the hotel is on a MARTA line, but after that it's rental cars, cabs and a really inefficient bus system, plus a trolley thing that goes back and forth on Peachtree to Buckhead and the major upscale shopping. If the hotel is near a MARTA station, it's an easy and cheap ride from the airport.

By late May, it's Too Damn Hot.

Old Crow Medicine Show is playing at the Cat's Cradle on Oct. 22

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE. looks at plane ticket to NC for that weekend. sobs.

I'd be a lot more upset if I weren't seeing Corb Lund next Saturday and Cory Branan in October. Also - CURSE YOU for leading me down this particular musical path. By which I mean **smooches**!