Commentor Ruemara is going to be in Los Angeles this weekend. So the locals are holding a meet-up in her honor, at the Story Tavern in Burbank, 6:30pm PST tomorrow, Saturday 2/15. Confirmed (as of last night) were frequent commentors Mnemosyne, Roger Moore, and Ruckus.
If you’re interested (tolerant partners & friends, as always, welcome), leave a comment here so Mnemosyne can reserve a big enough table. Or you can email me (click on my name in the right-hand column, or use annelaurie (at) verizon (dot) net) and I’ll pass your message on to her.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m on the wrong side of the country for this particular meet-up, but this summer I hope/plan to do a nice long leisurely driving trip up the Atlantic seaboard, into all of the New England states and then the four Atlantic provinces of Canada.
Anne Laurie, I’m counting on you to help me meet up with BJers all along the route! Details, and requests for BJ hive mind advice, to follow during the next few months!
PaulW
…will there ever be a Florida Balloon-Juice Meet-Up?
The Dangerman
I’ll raise a glass from the Central Coast (where it may be 75 and sunny, but our water situation stinks to high hell)…
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Old Sturbridge Village.
Roger Moore
If nobody else objects, I’ll bring green balloons as a recognition symbol. It worked OK last time.
Mnemosyne
I haven’t seen some of the usual So Cal peeps around, so hopefully they’ll chime in for this thread. I have something fabulous’s email, so I may try that if she doesn’t show up here.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
Yes please! I probably won’t have time since we’re doing last-minute apartment cleanup before my brother-in-law arrives on Sunday.
cthulhu
I think Mrs. Cthulhu and I should be able to swing by tomorrow assuming we can get our spawn off to her sleepover early enough.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Wow, that takes me back. A favorite place to visit when was a wee one.
Others asked to go to amusement parks or ball games. Sturbridge Village or else the Museum of Natural History were always my top two requests of places to be taken to.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: My family lived in Newtown, CT, for a while. OSV was was one of my favorite places. The Cloisters as well.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Summer? New England? Tanglewood.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks! That is EXACTLY the kind of thing I’m looking for! Added to my Planning Book.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: You are welcome. I also second NotMax’s suggestion of Tanglewood, especially for you as an opera fan.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
How about another Washington, D.C. gathering soon?
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Thanks! I may be traveling too early for the Tanglewood season, but if I’m there at the right time, it’s definitely on the to-do list.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I see Renee Fleming is opening. Maybe I should plan my trip accordingly.
kindness
Good for you S Cal folks. Sadly I was not able to hit the Oakland meet up a year ago.
Citizen_X
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s a long drive (and ferry ride!) to Newfoundland, and especially the capitol city of St. John’s, but you MUST go there if you’re touring the Atlantic provinces. (Just don’t call Newfoundland part of the Maritimes and you’ll be all right!)
Yatsuno
@SiubhanDuinne: Also too: REDKITTEH!!!
Gin & Tonic
@Citizen_X: It is a long way, and I’m not sure I’d consider St. John’s a MUST, but the west coast, like Gros Morne National Park and above is spectacular, and maybe a unique topography for North America, being more like coastal Norway. I never made it all the way up to L’Anse aux Meadows, to my regret, but it was a long, long way to go by bicycle on an unpaved road.
PEI is very nice, too, but I haven’t been there since before the bridge, so I don’t know how much it has changed.
Suffern ACE
I might feel bad for what’s left of American manufacturing labor, but if they won’t look out for themselves and if they are going to be easily cowed away from joining unions, explain to me why I should worry if they end up making 2.50 an hour?
Burnspbesq
Rats. I’m in Seattle tomorrow, watching the kid perform.
One of these times …
skippy
aw, damn you guys, i live in studio city, not 20 mon. away, but i have reservations to take mrs. skippy out for valentine’s dinner at 6:00, in the exact opposit direction, and will not be able to make it! tip one for me…
BillinGlendaleCA
I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend. The wife and I were planning a crab dinner tonight, but since we had leftovers from her korean chicken stew; she said we’d do the crab tomorrow. I’ll see what I can schedule with her, maybe bring her along(probably not, ha). I was wondering if Roger would be bringing the green balloons(sure beats asking the waitress where the bj group is).
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne: Sure, I’ll front-page your itinerary, and look forward to meeting you when you make it to this part of New England! As long as you don’t expect me to drive you around!
You’ve probably already been told that the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is well worth a visit. But if you’re up here between May and Columbus Day, the Shelburne Museum is also a great place to spend a day (or a week). Both are the very personal collections of amazing women, but Electra Havemeyer Webb had a couple generations’ more experience and a lot more space to spread out her eclectic vision. There’s everything from Impressionist paintings and Shaker furniture to a working carousel, a steam train line, and rooms full of Civil-War-period collar boxes (so Alcott!), antique quilts, glass presentation canes, French mechanical dolls, vintage circus posters… whatever caught Mrs. Webb’s fancy. That area of Vermont is gorgeous in general, and I’m told there are some serious ‘destinations’ for people who love food & wine…
Gin & Tonic
@Anne Laurie: If we’re talking up lesser-known museums, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem is well worth a visit, too. Among many other things, one of the world’s largest collections of navigational instruments.
PsiFighter37
Very cool guys – hope it’s as good as the last time!
And green balloons are a must at all these meetups. There’s no easier way to spot folks then a bunch of middle-aged folks sitting with balloons tied to their chair for no apparent reason.
(I am in Nawlins this weekend, so unfortunately won’t be in the neighborhood)
burnspbesq
@Suffern ACE:
Ummm, because they won’t be able to buy whatever product or service your company sells?
Omnes Omnibus
@PsiFighter37: Coop’s Place on Decatur. Fantastic Bloody Marys. Awesome rabbit and sausage jambalaya. It is as close to non-touristy as you can find the Quarter – the Alex Chilton hangout part.
Suffern ACE
@burnspbesq: they don’t buy it now.
EL
I’d like to come to the meet up.
EL
Just clicked the link and saw the have CIDER! I am a hard cider fan, and have to go!
MikeJ
Wait, I have to go over the hills? Wait, I’m not in hwood so I don’t get to complain about vertical travel time? (Sorry, I once gave a party in LA and half the conversation was about the best way way to get to the Chateau form Burbank. There were real live movie stars in the liquor store next door though.)
Carry on. Wish I could be there.
BillinGlendaleCA
@EL: First time I ever got drunk was on hard cider in London.
MikeJ
@PaulW:
If you build it they will come….
Omnes Omnibus
@BillinGlendaleCA: When I did my school time in London, the female American students got themselves fuck up by drinking pints of cider at the pace the lads were drinking beer (Guinness for moi). Halfs would have been a better idea.
Jebediah, RBG
As of now I’d call me tentative for tomorrow night – I am trying to avoid getting sick. If I get it, and it is what my wife had a few weeks ago, I definitely don’t want to give it to anyone else. It was pretty nasty.
But I would very much like to meet some Juicers.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: A few months ago I found the place that we stayed in London(1979) which was a City University dorm. The dorm is no longer there, but the bar still is there and looks exactly the same.
Susan K of the tech support
Oh damn. Can’t make it. Nephew plays hoops for a nor cal team and are on a road trip to the L. A. Area this weekend. Will be at cal State Dominguez hills cheering on the chico State wildcats. You all have fun
ruemara
Ooooh, this now seems all fancy.
ruemara
Ooooh, this now seems all fancy.
something fabulous
Hello, dead thread! Just got home from Minneapolis tonight, but think I can swing it if anyone is still checking!
ruemara
@something fabulous: I checked! Doooo eeeeeet!
Narcissus87
Just saw this, longtime lurker on Balloon Juice (to the point where I used to comment a half-decade ago) but would love to meet up for drinks. I’m on the loooong outskirts of LA, but might be able to swing this!
Avery Greynold
I’m another lurker. Within walking distance even. Must go!
vernonlee
Wish I could go!
Angeleno here, irritated at having missed now TWO BJ meet-ups! (And maybe more? Don’t tell me!)
Catch you guys for the next one!
Mnemosyne
In case anyone checks back in this thread instead of the one up top, we have a reservation starting at 6:30 under “Roger.”