I grew up in Tucson. It would be fab, but really, not so much in May.

If y'all are concerned about being too hot in Austin or NOLA, you don't want to face a Sonoran Desert May.

I think a fall/winter F2F would be perfect, though. Might have to watch out for the snowbirds a bit,

My concern with NOLA is less about the heat and more about preferring to go there when the raison d'etre is seeing the Big Easy as opposed to hanging out with y'all. (something I would do at a cooler time, actually)

I'm going to be with Buffistas-- a few venues for food and amusement will do the trick and can be gotten quite cheaply in a small midwestern city that's gunning for tourists and will cut you deals.

Kansas City, as an example, has a walkable downtown with plenty to do and two-for-one hotel deals that can get you a hotel room for $65 for TWO nights. It's quite driveable for the folks on the middle and those of us on the edge can get short, direct, flights for under (and sometimes well under) $300.

You can always go back just to see the city. Were flights to DC and LA not prohibitively expensive- I'd have wanted to go to the F2Fs in those places, even though I would also want to see the city and I've got friends and family there.

It's hard to get a good idea of hotel rates this far out and without factoring all the group rate deals.

My concern with NOLA is less about the heat and more about preferring to go there when the raison d'etre is seeing the Big Easy as opposed to hanging out with y'all. (something I would do at a cooler time, actually)

I'm with Trudy on this. The Big Easy is something I'll wanna do with the missus and sprog, or perhaps just the missus. It's another case of "I'd rather hang with the 'istas, but golly I'm in Nawlins, I'd be remiss if I didn't wander around and check out the blah blah blah cookies."

Since people have expressed an interest in Nashville, I'll give you my take on it. I am only a semi-localista. My mother lives there and I'm there four or five times a year, so I could scout hotels.

Nashville, Tennessee.

The natives, like my mother, call it the "Athens of the South" because of the 13 colleges and universities (and possibly for the large Greek community). Johnny-come-latelies call it "Music City".

Room rates: $70-$200, although it's hard to know what you could negotiate for a group

The best thing about Nashville is the music. The odds are that almost any waiter you talk to is pitching a song to the publishers on Music Row. The bands at almost any dive include some of the world's best session players. The emphasis is on country and bluegrass and on singer-songwriters, who play at such places as the Bluebird Café and Douglas Corner.

Things to see in Nashville:

The Country Music Hall of Fame–actually quite entertaining and the flashy Nudie outfits alone are worth the price of admission.

The Grand Ole Opry–a spectacle worth seeing even if you're not a fan of the music

Ryman Auditorium–the original home of the Opry now hosts some great concerts

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge–where the stars hung out when the Opry was at the Ryman

Frist–a marvelous restoration of an over-the-top Art Deco post office into an art museum that has gotten some good traveling shows

Cheekwood–elaborate mansion turned art museum. Has had some great shows

The Hermitage–home of Andrew Jackson. Very well done house museum, plus it's entertaining to hear the guides dance around questions about Jackson's treatment of Indians

Red Grooms Carousel

Nashville Zoo–Meercats!

General Jackson riverboat cruise

Professional football–The Tennessee Titans

AAA baseball–The Nashville Sounds

Jack Daniels distillery–It's an hour+ out of town, but the tour is a hoot. They do serve barbecue to groups.

And, for Plei, there's the Batman building.

Cons: It's a big tourist town, so it might be difficult to get cheap rooms.

There's not much in the way of public transportation. If you stay near the Opry, which is miles outside of town, the only other thing you can walk to is a big outlet mall. If you stay downtown, you're near the entertainment district near the river on Second Avenue, which has a lot of bars, restaurants and music venues, as well as fairly near the Ryman and the Frist. It would take a car to get to the Opry and most everything else, although I suspect the hotels probably offer packages with transportation to the Opry.

So should people stop listing things to see? Is that counting against locales?

So should people stop listing things to see? Is that counting against locales?

I don't know if it's counting against. I'm saying that, in most cases, the "things to see" don't matter to me, but there are some cities that I know have things I want to see and NOLA's one of them and I'd rather do it on my own time.

That's all.

Things to see is great.

Eight million things I've GOT to see or I'll be disappointed -- not so much.

But if you didn't go to that city, you wouldn't be seeing them either- nothing says you can't go back later, just because you go to meet Buffistas this time.

It didn't seem to be an issue with any of the other major cities.

Erin having a stolen orgiastic weekend within three minutes of the big downtown Sephora, twenty minutes from the Scharffen Berger factory (or, for less inspiring choc, eight minutes from Ghirardelli Square), and a gorgeous 40 minutes drive up to Napa and Sonoma, aka the Wine Country

I'm trying to make it to SF for Nilly's visit in the fall, Deb, so my orgy of eyeshadow and wine should be then. And I'm hoping badly that you will make me some lemon bread (since I am Queen of Lemons), and we can drink prosecco outside!