I talked to Jon a couple of hours ago; he's back in Somerville safely.

Maria! Hi. I loved talking with you. And I totally wasn't exagerrating your hotness, yo.

Corruptor! The easy-staying-in-touch part is crucial.

And JSw: NEENER! I totally have the upper hand, as I get both Buffistae you have met and Buffistae you haven't met, all in the same city. So there!

I'm awed by the beauty of the natural world....from a distance.

World of seconded. There's a couple parks near my apartment building, and while they're cute and friendly and park-y, I enjoy them for the three seconds it takes to walk past them on my way to the el.

Well, yeah, but I'm not talking about everyone camping next to a lake with me. There's a middle ground that's not the middle of a city, where there are things you can walk to do in a town, and you get more bang for your buck staying in a beautiful location hanging out with other Buffistas. For example, if, for the same amount of money, the hosp. suite could have been located on an outdoor deck overlooking the ocean in say, Carmel or Monterey, or in a lovely mountain town like, say, Telluride or Santa Fe or Jackson Hole - wouldn't that be worth it? I only use those because they are first thing to come to mind. There's a TON of stuff to do in a Monterey or a Carmel AND it isn't San Francisco. I'm just saying, maybe it doesn't have to be the middle of A Big City.

eta: I get that a group of you don't like the outdoorsy stuff so let me reemphasize I'm not suggesting you camp out with me. But there are a number of people who say that they'd like more time to chill and hang out with the Buffistae, and if a gorgeous place can be found to do that, that has restaurants and bars to go to, then why eliminate them from consideration?

Let's say this was the same price as DC just was: [link] It's in the heart of wine country. Worth considering? I think so, and I think others would consider it. It's just an example.

We might do well with a less destinationy city, you're right. I'm reminded now that I have a friend in Nashville who absolutely loves it - great food, good music (not just the Grand Old Opry kind), and cheap. So I'd throw that into the pile.

I like the idea of a less destinationy city, like Nashville, Austin, KC or Minneapolis.

I don't like the idea of having to wait until next May however. Parties this Summer sound good to me.

And JSw: NEENER! I totally have the upper hand, as I get both Buffistae you have met and Buffistae you haven't met, all in the same city. So there!

SA, you totally have me out-neenered now. I'm home and Buffista-bereft.

t sobs

Fortunately, the board and AIM are flying.

t grins

Yup, like that! Nashville sounds great, especially the cheap part. I like a good bargain. I used to usher for Bill Graham Presents and this kind of reminds me of a story about The Lord of Dance guy. He refused to let them book him into the Berkeley Community Theater, which was the perfect venue for that type of show, because he wanted "San Francisco" to be on the t-shirts and posters. So they had to put in risers in a flat performance space and the sight lines sucked for the audience because of it.

Anyway, feel free to send me comments on how you'd like to revise the evaluation criteria and I'd be happy to send out RFPs to any city, or forward the RFP to any contact person for a city and they can do it for that area. And I, for one, would definitely take an Oakland over a San Francisco, if you know what I mean, because you get more bang for your buck.

I had a great time. DC is a fabulous city for museum-ing, and I made it my main focus for the week that I was there. There are a few things on my list that I couldn't get to but I came home feeling that I'd seen everything I wanted to see. I visited Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Cassatt, Degas, Diebenkorn, Lichtenstein, de Witt, O'Keefe, etc. many times AIWFG. The little parks were a huge favorite - the butterfly park between Natural History and the East Wing of the National Museum of Art, the Bartholdi Fountain & National Wildlife Federation garden, the Japanese Memorial around the corner from the hotel, the Sculpture Garden with the fountain/rink in the middle and the elms! Wow! There were so many big trees, especially lots of big elms, all over the National Mall, and birds singing everywhere. It was marvelous.

I'd like to do more photography next year too, only with a better understanding of the camera. I spent the entire prom outside taking people's pictures AIWFG.

The night head security guy was fun to schmooze with, actually, too. They must have a camera up there somewhere given the speed with which he arrived when Someone Partying Very Hard had an incident. smonster & amyth, I did not know until the moment you left that you were planning to take the recycling back with you. Wahh!! Had I known, you would've had several giant bags.

eta: Austin! Yeah! Places like that. I wouldn't even rule out Detroit. It's fairly depressed, yes? There might be some fab luxury hotel at which we could do nothing but lounge around for the same price as a Chicago.

I like the idea of a less destinationy city, like Nashville,

Heh. This I could totally help out on, actually being from Tennessee and all.

Nashville sounds kind of cool.

Nashville will be hot and very humid by the end of May, won't it? May as well stick with New Orleans in that case.

Oh, what do I care? I'll pretty much go anywhere, and if it's close to New Orleans I'll just tack on a few days at the beginning or end to go there.