I'd like to meet you, Sox! It'll depend on the time you end up brunching/lunching/whatever, mostly, whether I can - keep me in the planning loop, if possible.

For some reason I decided to do NaNoWriMo, which cut into my pimping time. But! Better late than never.

I'm pimping Albuquerque, New Mexico, for early to mid-June.

The timeframe puts us after school's out, but before NM gets too hot. Also, most of the area pueblos have feast days on June 13, so if you want the unique experience of a traditional Native American feast and dance, that's an option. Also, fry bread.

Temps at that time average a high of 90 and a low of 60. That whole thing about how it gets cold in the desert at night? Sure, it drops 20-30 degrees, but that doesn't mean "cold" exactly. There's about a 20% chance of rain - it's hot, but it's a dry heat.

The airport (Sunport) is one of the most pleasant I've been in, and the Rail Runner system makes it easy to get around without a car. It's not a large city; all parts are easily gotten to from all other parts. There are hotels at all levels of luxury and funkiness.

Other physical points about the city:

Albuquerque has one of the highest elevations of any major city in the United States. The elevation of the city ranges from 4,900 feet to over 6,700 feet, even though you'll swear it's totally flat. It's nestled between the Sierra Sandias (Watermelon Mountains), and the West Mesa. That's a volcanic feature that a lot of people call Black Mesa...which might ring a bell with Half-Life/Portal fans. (I can attest that the interiors of Half-Life bear a striking resemblance to the interiors of Sandia National Labs). The city straddles the Rio Grande, so you'll get to see one of the world's officially "exotic" rivers; like the Nile, it flows through a desert.

The unique river system of the Rio Grande means that Albuquerque, a severely landlocked city, has an excellent Aquarium. For more history in your natural history, there's the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, where you can watch paleontologists cleaning and prepping dinosaur bones.

Other things worth doing include a trip on the Sandia Peak Tramway up to the 10,378 foot Sandia Peak in the Cibola National Forest, where you get an 11,000 square-mile panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley. On the opposite side of the city, the ancient landscape meets the ancient native cultures in Petroglyph National Monument, a protected area home to a variety of cultural and natural resources including volcanoes, archeological sites and an estimated 24,000 carved images.

Even if we don't do a Feast Day, we can make a day trip to a local pueblo. An hour west of Albuquerque is the entrance to "Sky City" - Acoma Pueblo. Acoma sits atop a 376-foot-tall mesa overlooking the desert. We could arrange an hour-long walking tour through the pueblo, the plaza and 17th-century mission church. An hour northwest of Albuquerque, amidst dramatic red rocks, lies the Pueblo Village of Walatowa (which most folks still call Jemez Pueblo).

Staying in the city, Old Town is a must do. New Mexican food, art galleries, Territorial-era adobe buildings, Indian crafts, it all comes together here.

Albuquerque is also on Route 66, so there's a bit of the historic Mother Road to explore around the KiMo Theater. The heyday of Route 66 brings us to the Atomic Age and Albuquerque's science and nuclear heritage. I've never been to The National Atomic Museum, but I bet the gift store rocks. Since we'd be there during baseball season, we could catch an

( continues...) Isotopes game. How many cities have a minor league team that got its name from The Simpsons?

Other activity options include the St. James Tearoom, the Rattlesnake Museum, or Buffista Laser Tag or Bumper Boats at the Hinkle Family Fun Center.

There are also some nice brunch places not far south of SFO -- not that I can remember the names of any of them, but Perkins has taken Matilda and me to several and they were both nice and seemed like they'd be accommodating of largeish groups.

(Just trying to expand the options to stuff that might be easier for Perkins; I know she's only a maybe, but if she *could* make it that'd be awesomecakes.)

If in SF, I'd vote for Ti Couz, yummy real French crepes just one block from the 16th and Mission BART station (with the Pork Store Cafe just two doors up in case Ti Couz looks too crowded).

Great pimpage, Raq! I'm hoping you go for mid-June since school doesn't get out for most of us until then.

The Sunday Washington Post had a big article about St. Louis in its travel section. I'll try to find a link - and login - but it didn't come up in my first couple of searches.

Lots of St. Louis press this weekend, as a matter of fact. Though um, not so much for the pimping.

oh, I'm not pimping St. Louis - just thought I'd throw in that there was an article.

There are also some nice brunch places not far south of SFO

That's sweet, JZ, and thank you, but once you get south of Millbrae, which is pretty close to SFO, you run out of BART, which makes everything more complicated.

The Sunday Washington Post had a big article about St. Louis in its travel section. I'll try to find a link - and login - but it didn't come up in my first couple of searches.

Thanks! I'm actually putting together a pimp post this week, so I'll try to dig for that as well.