h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

you mean we have a (sort-of) date?

*faints*
::thud::


*recovers*
may 17 sounds great to me

sadly won't make lansing next weekend, but i hope you have fun! what's 'conclave'? i followed the link, but i didn't know if there was a central theme or if it was a general sci-fi gathering.

hubby and i have discussed going to michigan sometime next year perhaps... a generic friends-and-family type trip of sorts.

so, weekend of may 16-17-18 2003 in chicago.... all in favor?

AYE

Sounds good so far...anything anyone would like to do off hand while in Chicago? I know for our meet-ups for the NE reaserchers we have had a pub crawl a museum and pub crawl and a hershey park and picnic..well there wasn't any crawling there but you get the idea...Any Ideas?


()

Probably because it was too hot to crawl...

friar volunteered to check into any special events that might be going on about that time. if there are special landmarks that anyone would like to check out we could bring them up here and form some more concrete plans later.

i for one must go to navy pier every time i go to chicago. the sculpture park is one of my favorite things to see because it's always changing and the sculptures are usually fun to climb around and take picutures with. it would make a good central meeting place with access to the trolleys and the bus lines.

i've also meant to go but never quite made it to lincoln park zoo (which is also on the trolley line).

'lo all!

OK, I'm still in crazy-busy-mostly-lurking mode here (my wife is due to give birth any day now [shudders}), but I'm cruising around for a little while with our NEW DSL line!!! yippy!

Anyway, I'll start scoping out places to go and things to do. Having an initial meet-up at Navy Pier is an excellent idea! There is one main entrance that is difficult to miss, and there's parking and public transportation access.
I realize that a true head count will be impossible until basically the day before, but I'll start looking for fun stuff for around 10-20 people (more?).

I'm still lurking and if anybody has ideas, continue to toss them into this thread.

Possibilities:
* Lincoln Park Zoo (free and fun)

* Downtown architecture tour, loads of fun!

* Sears Tower Sky Deck ($20, but Ferris Beuller went there)

* Picasso in Daley Plaza, a must see

* Magnificent Mile shopping (overrated, I feel, but fun for folks who like that stuff)

* See a play downtown/see a concert in town (we've got to wait to see what's showing)

* Friar's favorite bar's and restaurants. . .mmm beer mmm, which reminds me, um, is this an "all-ages show" or should I take into account the under 21 folks too? There are certainly possibilities both ways.

Arrgh!

I will just be getting back from a weeklong Vegas vacation the Wednesday before that. (not sure the wife would let me leave again in 2 days but stranger things have happened) (that is if we have any money left after a week in Vegas)

There was something I liked to visit in Chicago when I end up there, but I can't for the life of me remember what..

I would certainly be able to introduce people to places they want to see in Chicago. . .

only, it would be nice to know what that is

Hey! I'm from Chicago as well, only just stumbled upon this thread today. I'd absolutely LOVE to meet up with other midwestern researchers!

If everyone coming to the meet-up were interested in the Chicago Architecture Tour, my best friend is captain of one of the tour boats on the Chicago River and I'd be happy to ask her if we could get some sort of group rate. I'm not making any promises, but it might be worth a shot.

Just about anyplace downtown would be convenient for me, I live very close to two different "el" stations. Navy Pier would be fine, and it does have a bit of something for everyone. Ed Debevic's is horrible, but I suppose I'd be willing to make an appearance in order to meet some of my fellow researchers! I agree about Rainforest Cafe and Hard Rock Cafe being a bit out of the way... one would need to be prepared to jump a cab. What else did everyone have in mind?

I love the the Navy Pier, Michigan Aveneue, museum ideas! And of course for the over 21 crowd it would be great to go on a "blues and jazz" pubcrawl, and take in some great Chicago style pizza. Or how about a cub's game and hitting a few of the "local" bars around the stadium? Oops nevermind about the Cubs, looks like they're going to be in St. Louis that weekend...

Hey,
I would love to meet up with you guys. Hope you would let in a researcher from florida. Anyway, my only requests would be to at least see Wrigley Stadium, even if the cubs aren't playing. Second, to do the previously suggested blues and jazz crawl. Anyway great idea, i look forward to meeting the rest of you.

DocWabbit

Chicago has great neighborhood festivals all summer. They are posted en masse in late Feb, so I'll let everybody know as soon as I can if there's a good one for that weekend.

Blue Chicago and Buddy Guy's Legends are about a short cab/long walk from the Pier (but Blue Chicago is much closer).

Still, one suggestion is:

meet-up at either Navy Pier or the Picasso and stroll for some food,

followed by a architeture boat tour (which are really awesome one nice days)

take the "el" up north to Wrigley Field (or better yet, NEAR Wrigley and walk the rest of the way)

Pub Crawl our way back south, ending up at Kingston Mines (a primo blues club, but with great live music of various sorts) or Irish Eyes an Irish pub with live music on weekends (or both, but beware mulitple live-music cover charges. . .)

Folks staying overnight beware staying too close to the airports, they're about $30-40 cab rides from downtown, so try to stay downtown.
As we get closer I'll keep an eye or two open for hotel deals and I'll find hotels with easy access to the parts of the city we'll be visiting.

Cheers,

Friar

wow, sorry folks! i didn't realize i hadn't posted here since october

psychocandy, i've made myself a note to add you to the page. i must have missed you when i last updated.

are we ready to make some kind of announcement in the post or on the community activities page? we should also probably start a sign-up to get an idea of how many people actually plan on coming.

saturday, may 17 in chicago... if we're all agreed on this i'll try to get an announcement together in the next week or so.

i hope everyone had a lovely new years!

sorry about the id mix-up... that was me.

Sounds good to me! Count me in! (That would be for one person)

okay, i've set up a new sign-up thread so that anyone wishing to get involved doesn't have to wade thru all the backlog here to find out what's going on. i've put a link at the top of the group page as well, so if anyone would like to advertise in their nick they can just reference A595163.

the new thread is at F72532?thread=235872

gee, i'm getting kind of excited now...!