Here is a starter list of those who are either a "yes" or a strong "maybe" for the August 29th GTG in St. Louis for the Festival of Nations. Please post here just to let us know you are seriously thinking about coming, or to take your name off the list. Thanks.

Jen & Chris (Mojen)
Deborah & Dan
Kathy, husband & Kelly (kaydee)
Kim & Chris
Stephanie (dogma)
Cindy Ruth
Marcia & Dave
Terry (teaberry)
Andrew

Hmmm

quote:

Originally posted by Wendy & Rob:
Hmmm

Wweelll?

????? It's a thought and we can't say ... today, but I do want to be in-the-loop and ... we'll see. Sounds like a ton-of-fun, even if it is SL in Aug.

A side note, Deborah-Rob bought a bottle of Streghe the other day and said it has nothing on your "Witches Brew" - or yours is spot on. He is lovin' your hooch and says to say thank you. He certainly does at every sip.

Wendy, Tell Rob thanks for the high praise! It's time for me to make a new batch of Witches' Brew.
By the way, I've got a batch of Sassafras started for Kim's Chris. It's a perfect hot summer flavor. It will be ready in August.

Tease

We are seriously going to follow the airfares and see if we can pull this off.

This is so very tempting. If summer plans all pan out, I should be back from visiting my Mom in the Philippines.

So, I am a strong maybe... will be watching sale on SFO- S. L. airfares. Also, fingers are crossed that the school year 2009-10 paycuts are not too deep to not allow any kind of travel. (fingers crossed icon should be here, )

That would be so cool Marcia and Eden.

And Eden, you could be our "official" guide to the food we are tasting from the Philippines booth!

Deborah,

Perhaps later this spring you could post a few lodging options for us? Near you, near the festivities, something like that.

That's easy enough, Marcia.

My first choice would be one the Drury Hotels. They are nice hotels at reasonable prices. Because they are a St. Louis based hotel chain there are a lot of them around.

Here's a link to their website:
https://wwws.druryhotels.com/PropertyList.aspx

The one closest to my house is this one: https://wwws.druryhotels.com/P...w.aspx?Property=0117

The one closest to Tower Grove Park, Forest Park, &, The Hill is this one:
https://wwws.druryhotels.com/P...w.aspx?Property=0136 (One of the restaurant choices is actually located in this one.)

There are two downtown. This one is near Union Station.
https://wwws.druryhotels.com/P...w.aspx?Property=0136
This one is by the convention center. https://wwws.druryhotels.com/P...w.aspx?Property=0058

If anyone has favorite hotel chains, or want to take advantage of point programs, just let me know. I'll guide you to the best location of that particular chain.

Deborah, I really really want to try to come-- like others, it will depend on airfares (or ability to get frequent flyer tickets)... and that will also determine if it is just me or all three of us.

When would you need to know?

Kathy

Kathy, we really don't need to know for sure until a week or so before. There is not "reservation" situation at the festival, it's outdoors.
All of the restaurants we've got on our list are flexible in capacity, so as long as I can give them a weeks notice for reservations for Saturday night we're cool.
The only thing that might require knowing earlier is those of you who will want to go to the Cardinal game with Kim & Chris.
St. Louis is a HUGE baseball town. August is later in the season so pennant fever will have set in. Even when the Cardinals are out of the hunt, they still draw an amazing crowd.

Thanks, Deborah.

I may have missed this, but when is the Cardinals game that weekend? My father was born in SL, and as a child growing up in CA, I remember listening to Cardinals games on the radio at dinnertime when the Dodgers were playing back there (yes, I said radio).

The Cardinals games (if memory serves) were Friday night, and Saturday and Sunday afternoon. We're actually thinking of coming in earlier (Wed or Thu) and going to Thursday night's game as the others conflict with our GTG stuff. Once we figure it out, I'll post here to see if anyone wants to get tickets...

of course, thinking on the fly, I guess we could also stay until Monday morning and go to Sunday afternoon's game...we'll have to see.

(I am following this thread and planning to go.) The Thursday game is in the afternoon, and Saturday is a 6 p.m. game. Saturday could be changed for TV, but against Washington I wouldn't think so. Schedules are at www.stlcardinals.com .

Living in far-fetched land as I am, and thinking good thoughts for airline fares, I can actually envision going to a Sunday afternoon game (1:10 pm, thanks Andrew) and then catching a flight back to LA in the early evening - the time change works for us on the return.

Spoke to Chris and we're leaning towards arriving Wednesday or Thursday and leaving early Monday morning, so that Sunday game is looking like a definite possibility if we can get tickets!

Oh, and Deborah, Chris says the guys should go to Sauget (sp) afterward because they get discounts with their ticket stubs .

I still don't know if I will be able to come or not. I need to visit family in Springfield sometime this year, and maybe could hook it onto that. But that would mean driving either to St. Louis from Springfied, or from Springfield to St. Louis, to visit, then back to drop off the rental car and fly out. Could fly out of a different city than I fly into, but then I've still got the rental car situation. On top of that, airfares are ridiculous! So I'd probably have to use miles. But I'm still trying to figure out a way to make this work.

I am following this and am in the "hoping but not too likely" camp. I have a brother and various nieces/nephews in Carbondale so that would be a good tie-in. But, the niece of my other brother is planning a July wedding in Northern IL. Two family trips the same summer probably won't happen.

If I were to come, I'd definitely be interested in the Cardinals (nemesis to cubbies everywhere) game.

Cindy Ruth,

You might price a one-way car rental; sometimes they're reasonable, especially if there are corporate-owned locations in both places. There would also be Greyhound buses.

Hello everyone-

I came across across a great article in Southern Living about St. Louis, thought I'd share


http://www.southernliving.com/...nn-sl-stlouis-030409

I checked the rates on the Drury Hotels.

The one nearest to Deborah's house is only $99/night for 2 beds/non smoking. There's a suite for $134.

Pretty reasonable. Looking better for me

jan

Everyone-

It is possible that I will be able to get a reduced rate for lodging. I will check into it and post my findings in a few days.

Hope to see you all in August.

Jen

quote:

Originally posted by jgk:
I checked the rates on the Drury Hotels.

The one nearest to Deborah's house is only $99/night for 2 beds/non smoking. There's a suite for $134.

We'll see what Jen finds out, but I find lower rates than that at that Drury. AAA, Senior (I like that, "Young adults 50+"), and eSaver, with a 25% cancellation penalty, are all $65-70 for a King room, $4 more for two double beds. An odd thing is that searching that address on Kayak lists a Hampton Inn but one of the links is to Drury; I think they've mixed up two neighboring hotels.

Andrew, I think the confusion is because Drury actually owns both properties at that site. They literally share a parking lot. Their name is on the one hotel and they just have a franchise on the Hampton Inn.
If you see listings for "Pear Tree Inns", those are owned by Drury as well. They are the economy no-frills version of the Drury's which offer more amenities.

Oh man, I love the mid-West already, AAA rates at $65-70/night for a king room. Come on American Airlines, show me a happy rate, I'm ready to book.

And Marcia, Drury's are VERY nice hotels. You won't be slumming in their hotels in any way.

An author friend of mine from Chicago just sent me this link.

Thought you guys might like to see some of your options while you are here.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...pr05,0,6651374.story

I would guess we are not going to make it. My parents informed me that they are coming in September for my nephews soccer game in San Diego. So i don't need to see them in Aug and Sept. Sorry,

I just ran across this St. Louis architecture blog developed and maintained by a NON-St. Louisan. It is the best commentary on St. Louis' amazing buildings and what is happening to them - warts and all - that I've ever seen.
Built St. Louis

I don't mean to be a dangling participle, but I'm just not sure yet (work schedule/vacation slots are pretty full then). Will that be a problem for you? I should know soon, especially if I can do a little finaigling around with my days off. Sorry for being iffy.

No worries, Terry. Take your time. We are very casual with this GTG.
I won't need to make restaurant reservations at LoRusso until I get back from vacation end of July.
The only thing that is on a time crunch is the Cardinal baseball tickets. I plan to buy them in a couple of weeks.

Despite some hard finnagling, it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to make St. Louie (this year). It's such a hot (as in popular) time of year to take off, and I just can't make the proper switches with co-workers to get the days off I need.

I'll be thinking of you all, and I'll raise a or two with you from Philly that weekend.

Late to the game here. Sorry that I will miss this Get Together. Will be taking Son # 1 back to school that weekend (and son #2 the week before). I am determined to make at least one Get Together!

I am sorry to say, we won't be able to make this event. But I will be looking to see what all happens and to see all the photos.

I hope we make it to city with the very big arch someday.

Have a great time everyone. W.

Hello all-

I just received an email from Renee Eichelberger/St. Louis Convention & Visitors Bureau with information regarding lodging:

Drury Inn and Suites Southwest
5 Lambert Drury Place
St. Louis, MO

She said that we would be eligible for a group rate if we needed 10 sleeping rooms or more.

Your thoughts please.

Jen

I can't imagine that the group rate could be any lower than the AAA rate of $67. and change. Are we that many people to even fill ten rooms?

From what I'm seeing, we are going to be too small a group to guarantee 10 rooms.

It was so nice of her to get back to you Jen, but I'm guessing that Marcia is right.

By the way...If I can get the information on the lady who does the Ethopian Coffee ceremonies from the organizers of the festival, would you guys be interested in me booking a special ceremony with her just for us? (it would be sometime during the day at the festival)

So I guess we're advised to make our own reservations, and we can consider the Drury Southwest to be a headquarters of sorts, where there could be the opportunity to carpool. If people want to pay less, there are other options. As I understand, this is the Fenton-Kirkwood area, and last year at that time a 2-star bid on Priceline was accepted at the Fairfield Inn for $36.

Deborah,

Do you have any details about the coffee thing - as in time involved, fees, etc., what we would be doing? - just wondering.

Andrew -- the Fairfield is a very nice budget business traveler type hotel. It is quite close and convenient to the Drury and to my house. If you choose that hotel, I'm sure there would not be a problem with someone picking you up and droping you off.

Marcia -- I don't have a clue yet. Ann (the woman who runs IISTL) just got back to me by email this morning. She said she would find out who the woman is and put me in touch with her. She also said she was interested in "doing something special" for our group. I don't have any clue what she meant there either.

I'll keep you posted.

I made a reservation at the Drury leaving Sunday, and got an e-mail offer to add Sunday night for $39.99; they say it's something to consider even if you need to leave Sunday, and stay past check-out time. So it's something people might want to consider, booking a Sunday check-out if they want to stay later: they just say to call the chain 800 number and mention the "Sunday" promotion.

Just booked, so we're good to go.

Hi all,

I just saw this travel piece on St. Louis in the SF Chronicle and thought I would post the link for all you lucky folks who'll be meeting there.

Hi all-

These two St. Louis eateries were just showcased on the Travel Channel:

http://www.crowncandykitchen.net/
http://www.pappyssmokehouse.com/index.php

Hope you are all having a lovely summer, will be seeing you soon!

Jen

Hi guys I'm back from Scotland. I've dug out from under the pile of "to-dos" and thought I should touch base with everyone.

Can we do a recap?

For sure:
Deborah & Dan
Jen & Chris
Kim & Chris
Marcia & Dave
Andrew
Charity & Bill

Maybe:
Kaydee (3)
Jan
Colleen (yes I'm going to keep badgering)

Did I miss anyone? Has anyone's plans changed?

Let's all check in here with an update on our arrival time. Then, since we will be a fairly small group, I'm going to move this to a PM.

Hi all,

Although I posted about getting a cheap Hertz rental from St. Joe, I booked the plane trip when the Southwest fare got to $30 each way, and I have a rental car at STL for next to nothing with a coupon. I'll be arriving around noon Friday.

Andrew, we're so excited that you are coming, so we can finally meet you in person.

My secret wish is that someday we'll all be in Umbertide at the same time.

Deborah, we're still digging out from our trip too, but I've been looking at fares, schedules and hotels. I'll let you know for sure this weekend.

We would also make this a trip to visit Washington University, a school Kelly is very interested in. I'm looking at the possibility of flying in Thursday night, spending Friday morning and whatever we need in the afternoon looking at the campus, and joining up with the group for Friday evening. (I'd love to do a little sightseeing on Friday afternoon, as I have great memories of a trip up the arch.) We would fly home on Sunday late afternoon.

I looked at the site for the Drury Hotel southwest. Would it make sense to drive there on Thursday evening (we might not arrive until 9 or 10 pm) and then to Washington University in the morning? I was also thinking about staying at the airport or near the university the first night and switching to the Drury hotel with the rest of the group for Fri/Sat nights. We usually stay at Marriott brands because of points, but we're flexible based on price and friends!

I'm really looking forward to finally meeting you and seeing old friends... we'll caucus as a family over the weekend and hopefully will be there!

Kathy