AKA: WC2010

It has been too long since we have met face to face, and too expensive to summon individuals to local bars. Thus, West Convention 2010 is proposed, and actions must be taken now.

Where: Denver, Colorado
When: July 1st - July 6th
What: We have a maximum of six days to enjoy with eachother. So far, the schedule includes a July 4th rodeo + fireworks show; a hike out in nature; a hike downtown, and that's about it.

Why Denver? Denver is a hub for a lot of the west coast, which means airplane tickets for a round trip are just around $100. n0 has also offered parts of his house, the basement of his parents' house, and his backyard as safe sleeping areas, which cuts out a significant part of price as well. The point of the location is accessibility to everybody.

Who: No restrictions, unless by democratic vote.

Caveats: Right now, there's only one van (7 passengers) to transport us. We can rent out a vehicle, but need a second driver. I won't mind eating the deposit.


Questions?

I do not think I need to reserve a post. But somehow the first one doesn't feel meaty.

Oh hey, I am no longer banned for voting for the Tories! Cool. So, yeah, everything Kaz says is true. I will add a bit of details that I have so far:

DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: It is a great airport, and I'll probably spend a good portion of the first day picking you guys up from the airport and shuttling you the 20 minutes to my house.

THE RODEO: It's the Greeley Stampede! It's a blast, lots of bull-riding and calf-roping and mutton-busting! And fireworks, since this will be our 4th of July trip. This is the main reason I'd like a RSVP before too long, because I'd like to purchase our tickets all at once so we can all sit together.

16TH STREET MALL: This is the "downtown" of Downtown Denver, and I'd feel that you failed to really see Denver unless we spent at least one day hanging out here. Lots of shops, places to go, things to see, and it's outdoors, so it has a chance of being rained out! Don't feed the hobos!

NATURE HIKES: Uh, haven't really planned this one out too much, but there are lots of different options:

• The Mountains!
  Pick a mountain, any mountain.
• The prairie!
  Take a left out my front door and walk a hundred yards.
• Redrocks!
  It's a two-hour drive, but just about the coolest bunch of red rocks you've ever seen.
• Boulder!
  Boulder or Golden, less of a drive than Redrocks or the Mountains, but a good fun place to take a hike, and in the Foothills, the base of the Rockies.
• The Beach!
  Just because we aren't near any ocean doesn't mean we don't have beaches! Crawdad fishing in the reservoir!
• The Ghetto!
  What tour of a major American city is complete without a tour of the Ghetto! Participate in a gang-shooting or buy some cocaine!

...um, got derailed with that list, let's see... Oh yes! Moving on to other potential activities:

MUSEUMS!
The big two in Denver are the Denver Art Museum and the Museums of Nature and Science, both of which are an absolute blast, and I haven't been to either since high school, so there would be something new for me to do as well.

THE ZOO!
The Denver Zoo. Dunno what else to tell you about it... it's big? It's so big you could go for three days in a row before you saw everything in it. Um... and there are animals there?

ELITCH GARDENS! (aka Elitch's)
It is THE amusement park of Denver, with at least four roller coasters, a Ferris Wheel, a Carousel... more "barf your guts out" rides than you can shake a funnel cake at... and a whole water park, too! It is a bit pricey, though.

WAL-MART!
The one near my house is actually a Wal-Mart Supercenter, which means it has a grocery store, a subway, a deli, a pharmacy, a barbershop, two banks and an auto-center built in, and is about half a mile long. If we want to grab some stuff so we can make meals back at my place, this would be a great place to do so.

Um... I guess that's all I got at the moment, post questions or comments or whatever here, and Kaz and I will try and answer them.

-=EDIT=-

Velk reminded me, I should talk a little about sleeping arrangements, so...
There are two houses, mine and my parents, code-named Northside and Southside, respectively.
Northside has: 1 futon, 2 couches, 1 big comfy chair, a back yard with room for 12 sleeping bags and tents, and floorspace for about 3-4 sleeping bags.
Southside has given me permission to utilize their basement, which has: 2 couches, 1 really big pillow, 1 big semi-comfy chair, and floorspace for about 12 sleeping bags.
There are also some decent, non-ghetto motels and hotels between Northside and Southside, but it's more fun for us to all pile in together.
Depending on volume, we will either be all at Northside (1-7 people show up), all at Southside (7-12 people show up) or we'll split it half and half (12-20 people show up). We might be able to arrange for some of Northside's couches to be at Southside if 7-12 people show up, which would be helpful on old people's backs.

Um, yeah.

I shall look into going! Can't commit yet, but I certainly hope to at least make a guest appearance.

I will very likely attend.

I'm already traveling around July 4 so I won't be able to make it.

I want to procrasinate and say that I won't go to this meeting, but probably someone will eventually talk me into it and I'll end up attending. So maybe I'll attend, but maybe not.

So yeah, since I'm getting a lot of "maybe I'll come" peoples, and I want to buy a block of tickets for the rodeo before they sell out, there is now a DEADLINE to let me know if you are coming or not.

So... let me know if you are coming by 11:59 PM MST on June 18th, or I will assume you can't make it. If you tell me you can make it and then cancel after the deadline, you owe me twelve bucks. If you tell me you can't make it and then do make it, you'll probably be sitting on the other side of the rodeo by yourself.

dang it to heck! I wanna go SO badly, but I'm gonna be at my lake cabin at about that time.

So sorry!

No makey makey it, since tickets are >1000. Someone find a 600 ticket, I might come

I think we should have a meeting at PT32's "lake cabin," because that sounds slick. No word yet on whether I'll be able to make it.

Originally Posted by Unknown Rabbit

I think we should have a meeting at PT32's "lake cabin," because that sounds slick. No word yet on whether I'll be able to make it.

That would be fun sometime

Ok guys, I've booked my flights. You had all better show up ;|

Some activity thoughts:

Denver Museum of Nature and Science: The museum is hosting the Body Worlds exhibition while we are there. This is an exploration of the human body using real plastinated body parts. I haven't seen it before but it is supposed to be awesome. $25.50 per person, which includes admission to the rest of the museum, or $18 in the evening (when the rest of the museum is closed).

Greeley Stampede: There's a free pancake breakfast on the 4th from 8-10 AM, if we can get up that early. The rodeo finals start at 1 PM. The main concert (Gloriana and Stealing Angels) is at 8 PM, and fireworks are after that. There are other events and concerts going on all day; I assume we'll spend the whole day here.

Elitch Gardens: This looks like a great amusement park and I want to go ;-p. As n0m said there are 4 roller coasters, lots of other rides that look fun, and a water park. They will have fireworks on the 3rd as well, so we could see fireworks 2 nights in a row if we really wanted to. Admission is $36.99, which includes all attractions.

Hey all, just wanted to remind you that you have just under a week to confirm or deny that you'll make it to the rodeo, so that I'll have a chance to buy a block of tickets so we can sit in the same section!

I was originally going to post this when you had exactly a week, but family matters came up.

So yeah, please come! It'll be fun, even if only Kaz, Link and I end up going, but the more the merrier!

I have bought my tickets and rescheduled my finals.
So glad we're not paying hotel rates .

Right, so the DEADLINE has come, and so registration is pretty much closed. If you realized at the last moment that you did actually want to come, and have the finances for a plane ticket out here, send me a PM or contact me on #jj2 and let me know ASAP, for I am buying the tickets for the Rodeo in probably less than 14 hours.

If you decide to come after I buy the tickets, it's not a problem for the other days of the Denver tour, but when we go to the Rodeo on the 3rd, there probably won't be a seat for you.

...alrighty then, unless we have any last-minute replies, WC2010 will consist of three people: Link, Kaz, and myself. And we will have a blast, despite all you naysayers and lolligagers and numbskulls and poor people who also don't have a lot of money being unable to come.

Ok, so... uh... I'm gonna go open a cold one and celebrate my 24th birthday, now that it is finally over.

Apologies for my very late response. I was really hoping to be able to come, but alas, work schedules and lack of moneys have held me back D:

If we ever want to do a sleepover at BN's house, however, I can probably make it. :P

Post lots of pics, guys!

EDIT: Also, happy birthday, n0! Wishing you many more years of awesomeness.

yeah, happy b-day indeed!

...So yeah. It happened. Link, Kaz and I had a blast. You should feel bad for missing it. Pictures will be uploaded soon, here are some videos of us riding a bull at a rodeo and freefalling at Elitches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQinU5rSRPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiWiGpti7Zg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aInzoUTe8Z8

woohoo... 3rd video rox it was great. Can you upload video/pictures of Red rocks ? it sounds very cool for me , here are some images:

http://www.redrocksonline.com/PUREEN...3/Default.aspx

Unfortunately we didn't make it out to Red Rocks. Next time, maybe .