Canada? St. Louis? Memphis? I don’t think I could bring myself to consider those places for a vacation, sorry. And yes, I’ve been to all three.
Vegas would be great and fun, but it’s not too central and there are so many distractions. I think Chicago (Midwest, big city, cool places to go, home of Cecil) is the best bet.
Formerly unknown as “Melanie”
While DC is right around the corner from me, and Chicago is more central, There are now 3 beautiful women plugging Canada…so my vote stays there…'sides, I went on vacation there when I was a teen, and always wanted to go back…
Obviously Chicago would handy for me, and it’s fairly central. (Admittedly not for Coldfire. Maybe he could hitch a ride w/ Chief Scott?) There some nice hotels away from the loop that don’t cost an arm and a leg, and public transportation is a snap to use.
And it’s home of Cece. (sentimental sniff)
St. Louis and Kansas City are both neat, too.
Hey, I just hit Vegas earlier this year and loved it. Found a cheap motel and some of the greatest, out of the way, inexpensive restaurants. Hit the strip for fun and people watching, then bailed and soaked in the pool. Great fun.
So…can I vote for all/any of the above?
Veb
Canada!!
CANADA!!!
You guys can get a room for 50 bucks canadian…thats like 3 dollars american,
And beer here is really strong, 2 maybe 3 and you yankies are wasted!
So…lets see, cheap rooms, wasted yankees…I AM SO THERE!!!
OTOH chicago is pretty central, but I have a friend in vegas… 
:o
What about camping??? There is a great beach like 20minutes from here…puh-leese?
Early results have St. Louis way out front, followed by Vegas, then Canada, while Chicago and Memphis have not really started to move yet.
Just bumping this back up to gather more voees.
We have gambling in St. Louis, if that helps. Why not just reserve the Arch?
Vegas is mounting a challenge, with Canada lollygagging along behind. St. Louis still owns half the race, and Chicago and Memphis remain moribund.
Hey, maybe we could contact the official tourism offices of these places and accept large bribes to hold DoperCon somewhere else!
The lowest bidder gets us.
Just a thought.
Veb
Saturday report: St. Louis still dominates, but Vegas is making headway and one shouldn’t discount Canada just yet.
Carry on.
I haven’t been to all places listed so I am not sure what I am missing out on. Would someone who has been to one of the cities we are voting on give a brief description of what is available? It may help us decide.
I’ll take Vegas:
The airport is only a few miles from the strip - cheap cab/shuttle fare.
Cheap, but very nice hotel rooms (sometimes $39.00).
The food is very reasonable with hundreds of places to chose from, all within walking distance of your hotel. I’m talking buffets anywhere from $2.99 to $19.00. I know where most are and will sell that knowledge for only a few bucks The desk clerk at all hotels are a fountain of information and will tell you the best places to go.
You don’t really need a car except to and from the airport, even then, the hotels have shuttles for only s few bucks. There is a strip shuttle that only cost something like a dollar or .50, I forget exactly.
Almost all entertainment is free unless you chose to go to a major show like Seigfried and Roy.
There is an awesome battle between Captain Cook and the pirates, complete with fire and sinking ships in the moat that surrounds Treasure Island. Sounds dumb, but it is actually pretty cool. If you get to the outside pub that overlooks the moat, you can get a front row seat and have a drink as well.
New York, New York is a miniature NYC. You can walk through the different boroughs and even go on amusement park rides in Coney Island. There are street entertainers that are amazing (inside the casino, but on the fake NYC streets). My friend from NJ said that he couldn’t believe how authentic they made it.
The Mirage is like a tropical island - beautiful (and my favorite hotel). You can walk around and look at the white tiger display, the dolphin show, and look in some of the shops (think Demi Moore buying her black dress in Indecent Exposure). The place is beautiful and you can sit in a jungle and get toasted. You may even see Dennis Rodman (I have twice).
The lobby at MGM is amazing (and free)!!! and has a very nice amusement park out back that is fairly cheap for an all-day pass.
Excalibur has a basement full of carnival games and virtual reality rides. The upper levels of the lobby has medieval street performers - jesters, puppet shows, etc. as well as shops. At night, a huge dragon comes out from behind the hotel and fights with Merlin. There is a medieval dinner that cost like $30.00 (or it did when I went) that is a lot of fun. Each section of the dinner is assigned a knight. As you sit and eat (with your fingers) your knight battles with other knights in the center ring (there is more to the show - Merlin, King Arthur. . . .) as you stomp and slam your goblets and fists on the table. It is great fun!!
The Mall at Caesar’s Palace is really cool, all white marble floor and pillars, trimmed with gold and has a realistic blue sky above with Roman statues looking down at you. There are some amazing shops you can walk through. Planet Hollywood is here as well and a great place to party. They also have a free show where the statues come alive. It’s pretty cool, but kind of hokey. Caesar’s also has the Omni - which is awesome.
The Luxor is cool just being inside, although it makes me dizzy. The inside of the pyramid is hollow so each floor balcony over laps the one below and looks down at the main section of the lobby. There are some great restaurants and a virtual reality ride that is the best I have ever been on.
There is a place you can taste every kind of Coca Cola made, there is the Harley Davidson casino (very cool), the rocket ride and roller coaster on top of the Stratosphere that will make you pee your pants (a larger version of the Space Needle in Seattle), and gondola rides through the streets at the Venetian.
This is only about 2% of the things you can do in Vegas, and I haven’t even mentioned gambling or the strip joints. BTW - prostitution is not legal in Vegas, only outside city limits, so you’ll have to take a cab.
There are endless places we can meet, have a drink, eat, party, whatever, all within walking distance to our hotels (no designated driver needed), and there is not curfew. It goes on all night!
Last but not least, unless we went in July, August, or September, the temperature will be around 70 degrees.
>^,^<
KITTEN
Please tell your pants it’s not polite to point.
Gotta gotta vote for Vegas. That I can do.
Well?
“There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.”
~P.J. O’Rourke~
I’m in DC but I vote for Chicago.
I don’t care…Chicago works. Probably be cheaper for me too.
“There is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it.” - William James
Coldfire, what say we organize a Teeming
European Millions Convention 2000? And
we’ll invite Shirley, too. Oh, hell, any
Yanks or Canucks want to get off their
northameri-centric heinies and come over
here where there’s real culture (read:
beer), we’ll be gracious.
Settle for what you can get, but first ask for the world.
–Ka’a Orto’o, Gnomic Utterances C iv
When? Because I know I can’t afford to go now. Or maybe even in six months. Or possibly ever.
So when? Just so’s I know.
-PIGEONMAN-
Hero For A New Millennium!
The Legend Of PigeonMan - updates every Wed & Sat. If I can be bothered.
VEGAS!!!
For all the reasons posted above. And:
“Do they have legal prostitution, Dad?”
“Not within the city limits, Russ.”
–Vegas Vacation
>< DARWIN >
__L___L
I’m in the travel biz, so I can get to anywhere pretty inexpensively, but I’ve got to say that Vegas offers many more diversions than Chicago or St. Louis. Also, if this trip is going to happen any time between December and, say, May…then the weather would be the deciding factor for me.
Vegas.
One thing we found in getting the first couple of Houston meetings together was that somebody has to accept the mantle of responsibility and take charge of pushing things ahead. I did it for the first one and Sealemon did it for the second.
The contemplated transaction will require a chairperson with a stable situation such that they can attend to the requisite details. That is, unfortunately, the reason I cannot volunteer - I am looking at a highly unstable couple of quarters next year.
Nevertheless, I propose that the next person who posts to this thread will be the volunteer chair of the steering commitee for DopeCon 2000. It would not be untoward of said chair to stipulate that, in light of the potential complexity of getting the endeavor consumated, planning will not commence until such time as two additional steering commitee deputies have volunteered, as well.
That ought to either sink this thing forever or get it jump started. Remember, if you accept such responsibility and you’re partial to Vegas, or St. Louis, or wherever, well…