September 5th-8th is the date.
I’ve investigated hotels and deals.
Here’s the plan.
The Doubletree hotel downtown is the big convention hotel in Spokane. It also does a room rate that can be 149.00 for four people, two queen beds.
IF just one person shows up for those 3 days, Jane and I can be nice city hosts.
If a dozen or two dozen show up we have, around that hotel: the Loof Carousel. Duck feeding: bring your own bread. Numerous restaurants within walking distance. Numerous pubs within walking distance. The gondola over the falls. The bridge across the falls. Riverfront park. Wonders of the World inside the Old Flour Mill, which is a gew-gaw shop ranging from the extravagantly expensive to the whimsical and cheap. And various places where, in that season, we can watch the water, feed the ducks, ride the Carousel, and otherwise just sit in the hotel bar or restaurant or somebody’s room and have a good time. You will also be next to the INB, which is Spokane’s live theater: sometimes they have shows. You’re pretty well on your own for booking that, because they’re sometimes Broadway Show prices and we’re not going to try to organize anything.
We’re not doing the kayak and lake cruise this year: that’s also organization and handling money and we don’t propose to do that: we have to write. BUT we will be able to entertain you (everybody on their own ticket! We can’t afford to pay for it), talk, shoot the bull, and if we have enough people with cars or can make multiple 3-passenger trips in the Prius—we can get you to our house for a backyard barbecue in pretty temperate weather, at that time in Spokane, and that won’t cost you anything. We can come and get you at the airport [we also suspect the Doubletree has a bus], meet you at the train station/bus station, and generally use the blog to help everybody coordinate: you can put the discussion in this thread.
We’re hoping to get everyone housed for as little as 38.00 each a night—if you pair up in fours and share…or 50.00 a night if you pair up in twos for the 109.00 room. Food is, well, you can hike all over that area (including a Chili’s and an Azteca next door) and eat either more expensively or far cheaper than there. There’s a very nice sports bar about a 4 block hike away.
Nothing that I can think of will be further than a 4-5 block walk, and if that’s a trial for you, we can figure some way to get you there.
So what we’re proposing is this:
If you group up and reserve rooms now, you’ve got the option to cancel them if your plans change.
We’re setting aside those 3 days. It’s the best choice we can make for our schedule. If one person shows up, we’ll still have a good time, but we really hope a lot of you can show up. If 5000 of you show up, we’re in trouble, and we’ll be contacting the local convention-throwers for helicopter assistance…
Our focus in this is getting together with you guys, as many as can make it. We want to keep it affordable for everybody if you can just get here, we want to be in a period when we can hope for comfortable weather, we want you to have plenty available to do in the area, and we’ll be there to talk, sit about, and generally have a 3-day party.
that weekend works well for me.
There is some concern about organizing things to do, and not being familiar with Spokane, I wouldn’t know where to start.
The canoe/kayak trip was fun, but it’s not essential (and I wasn’t going to bring my boat, anyway), but I would like to go to the Japanese Garden again, if that’s feasible. (it’s free, too!) I’m not going to bring my 12-string, but plan to bring the 6-string with me.
I have tentative plans to drive out with one other member, but that could change if our small “northern tour” increases its number of members. I can fit no more than 3 people in my car, with associated baggage, although I do have a roof rack, that tends to really lower the gas mileage. I should be able to afford the trip, especially now that I have a target date to shoot for.
Don’t start the countdown yet!!!! It’s still 7 months away.
There’s a little Japanese garden with stones in the Riverfront Park where we will be. And it’s possible there will be some filk, yes indeed. If people do show up with cars and the ability to move people about, we can reach more things. I’d love to get one lunch or supper at our favorites watering hole, up at the Swinging Door, but that’s a car thing.
Organizing can be a bit ad hoc, as in, ok, we had breakfast — want to go to the Carousel? Feed the ducks?
Sit in the park and talk?
Please don’t feed the duck bread. It’s bad for them, “empty calories”.
Alas, Paul, those ducks are so fat they can’t fly. Everybody in Spokane feeds them that bad diet. But they do have a year-round home in a river that never freezes.
I will also be open to private e-mails from people who have to say, no, that’s too pricey an option. I’m all for doing things, but I don’t want people running over budget because they want to do x, when if I knew that was pushing it, I might suggest y. An example is Anthony’s, which is a great restaurant with a view, but where a dinner bill can be 50 a person, and Spencers, actually in the Doubletree, can run worse than that if you order steak. Same price with the Steam Plant. But the Swinging Door (absolutely no view: it’s a sports bar) is more like 25.00 if you stuff yourself and have a little alcohol. 25.00 is a typical sports bar meal here. And of course the barbecue can feed people one supper—I figure to have that on the Saturday night, because the restaurants are crowded on that night, and because some folk might have to leave Sunday to make it back to a job.
Other things in reach, lots of food, wineries, the full reach of the park, and if we have enough cars, Spokane is our oyster. I just want things to be physically and financially accessible. And please tell me honestly in e-mail if there’s a problem shaping up. I want this to be fun with no OMGs.
Let’s not forget the pizza, especially since we need to order more than one pepperoni so Jane gets at least one slice…… 😉
And salads! There must be salad. 😉
Lol! That’s for sure!
Umm, is there some way we could have a thread/board somewhere/somehow where people could coordinate carpooling from different areas? (Can’t be as bad as family vacations, can it? ;o )
That would be a good idea for the Shejidan fan forum, which has an area for meetups and organizing.
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My budget this year likely will not permit a vacation excursion, unless something wonderfully unexpected happens. However, I’d be there in spirit, and if possible, in person.
Herding cats!!!! 😀
One suggests, if anyone sets up such a service/thread, they post a link to it here for the benefit of all who might need it. I don’t frequent the Shejidan board, and fumbling about looking for the right place can be frustrating.
If you don’t find it right away, just ASK, in the Welcome thread (which should be pretty obvious). Or I can tell you it is under the “Voyaging In Night” subheading (visible once you are verified as a Citizen of the Association), in the “Meetpoint Station” subforum (apropos), in the thread which we (meaning no disrespect to the Wavy Navy and sundry others) are calling “Shejicon IV”
Maybe you can catch a passing car.
Everybody who has a car and can take passengers, list origin and route; everyone who would like to share a ride, post location.
We’ll find out, too, about various modes of transport. We have air, bus, and train.
West Central Ohio, will be traveling up towards Toledo first. Have not yet made arrangements with the other person coming with me. Can fit one more person in the car, but be advised, it’s a stick-shift……
My travel budget these days is wholly taken up with TUL-DFW-BNE-SYD and return SYD-DFW-TUL to make sure my handicapped sister has everything she needs. I’m sending my regrets.
We’ll miss you! Jane and I WILL be at Soonercon this year…
BargeBoy is relieved that there will be no canoe paddling of Ready (the Queen of denial) although the Little Spokane was great. We will be driving up from Arizona (probably by way of Raton, NM, our friends in Sundance, Wyoming and the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, MT and returning by way of Vancouver, WA, Sacramento, CA, and our son’s place in LA), unless someone else wants to visit Las Vegas,NV (and spence-nadi) in a caravan processional. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll have room for more than one passenger. We will have our car with room for three (friendly) passengers while in Spokane, and can assist in pick-ups/drop-offs at the airport. Since we are retired now we will probably arrive early (Thursday evening) and leave late (Tuesday morning) and will assist you in any way you need (notice how slickly I volunteer BargeBoy).
You are very sweet! Helping us handle getting people organized coming into the hotel so they feel like they’re in the right place would be one I can think of first-off.
We’ll be glad to be a welcoming party. Those who met us during the last two ShejiCons will likely remember us and the rest will just have to look for “The Salad Bar” LOL
Maybe if one has an appropriate shirt for the declaration of man’chi, now would be the time to wear it 🙂
Or perhaps of one’s avatar. I was wondering about doing that. At least get a button made…
I doubt I can con DH into the trip; maybe I can fly solo and claim it’s for my birthday or some such. As it is, we are having our semi-annual vacation in a few weeks by going to a science-themed “Space Ranch”. We shall see what the budget permits closer to time. Anyone perhaps carpooling from the West Coast? I would have to fly in and thumb a ride.
Oh gods most infelicitous! I just looked at the calendar, and there is no way I can make it; it conflicts with an annual friends and family get-together.
I am willing to do online travel-agent-fu for anyone who is challenged by getting Kayak to cough up a budget-friendly itinerary; I even speak Amtrak.
Darn, darn, darn!
Nand’ CJ. Have you announced this at the Shejidan forum? I’m sure the Associates and salads there would be pleased to hear the news, if one plans to include them in the reaffirmation of man’chi.
One also wonders if the BBQ will be piratical or otherwise.
CJ , Do you accept Donations ?
Tia, JimL
We are ok, thank you. And I MUST tell the Shejidan forum. I have a little trouble posting over there—my unfamiliarity with the site. But yes.
Sorry, CJ, I’d posted on the wrong thread, I copied and pasted your post above, including the link, but it was on the WorldCon Spokane 2015 thread, not the ShejiCon 4 thread. I just posted the link to the hotel on the Shejicon 4 thread under your post.
THank you, Joe!
Here’s a googlemap of Spokane: the hotel in question is right in the heart of things, where Division crosses the Spokane River. https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=spokane+wa&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x549e185c30bbe7e5:0xddfcc9d60b84d9b1,Spokane,+WA&gl=us&ei=jsbyUq_xLsL6oASJ5IDoDQ&ved=0CIsBELYD
It’s a very walkable area, with riverside sidewalks, and a park that stretches alongside downtown streets. Restaurants abound. There’s a downtown mall. There’s ample covered parking attached to the hotel. It sits against the convention center, so it’s real used to numerous random people. And it will be one of the worldcon hotels.
As with others, not sure about the finances. Social Security, don’t you know?
I’m in Portland, meaning the I84 Columbia Gorge route. My vehicle is a Ranger pickup, 2-seats, but with a cab-high shell and cargo capacity. (Might have an interest in stopping at a winery or two on the way.)
Horse Heaven Hills, in the TriCities is abloom with wineries and that would be on your route. Martinez is a good one for reds.
Oh, yes. In the West Side Wine Club we go together for group purchases of fruit from several vineyards out there, Sagemoor, et al. of “warm-weather” varieties we can’t grow well “on the floor of Lake Allison”. 😉 However, we do Pinot Noir like nobody but Burgundy, and can kick the legs from under all but the best of them. We’ll see how things turn out.
Well, I don’t think witchyg is going to be able to make this one (cross-country move, new job, limited time off), and when I guessed weekends when scheduling vacation last October, I took the weekend Before off. However, I’ll talk to the bosses about getting the Friday off, and we’ll see what happens. OTOH, I did schedule two weeks off at the end of June, so if the Wavecon doesn’t work out I plan on going to see you both at Soonercon.
I hope you can convince witchyg to come too, Kroyd. We insist 😉