In no particular order for preference, I would be interested in the fair, the living history museum, and the space shuttle thing.

If none of those are chosen, I'll just follow the group. :cool:

VJ is brave . I personally would not stay in any hotel along Van Buren. The night life is "interesting".

Both the restraunts sound great. I also like the space shuttle thing, Living History, and Arizona Fair.

I'm posting from the 965 E. Van Buren hotel right now using their wireless internet. The hotel is 1 block from a Marriott property, FWIW.

The hotel is clean and new- standard Super 8 amenities, etc. A friend had out of town guests, so here I am at 1am-- and I have no worries about my car in the lot. ;)


So, as far as the preferred activities, please keep the comments coming in. I want to refine the list of options to make sure we have more structure as I myself can only be an event leader in 1 place at one time. ;) Thanks!!

If there's a brunch on Sunday, I'll probably attend. But I'll have to be on a 3:14pm flight at the latest, perhaps even a 12:04pm flight. If there's no brunch, I'll probably be on an 8am flight. ;)

VJ,

As you decide on activities, send me a PM so I can edit the original post.

I'm sorry to announce this, but with some things that came up recently as well as an odd work schedule, I'll have to opt out of this do. :(

Have fun everyone! :)

Heh heh ... I was about to say ...


[from April of 2004] ... I should have found a shirt
that read "It Bit the Big One" when I found my hotel
room. J. was really leery of leaving me off in that
neighborhood; I don't mind such - when I was doing a
lot of touring, with motels paid for by cheesy agents
and penny-pinching impresari, I was used to this kind of
place, and nobody ever, ever gave me a hard time about
my musical instrument.* You pay what you get for. What I
got from the pleasant enough Indian girl at check-in:

pluses:
a biggish room, probably bigger than I'd get at most
real hotels, reasonably well appointed

a large spotless washing-up/dressing area

offputting things:
the room smelled like hospital disinfectant

the box spring had a big old blood stain, not nosebleed
big or gushing period big, I mean attempted murder big

Also the bathroom itself hadn't been quite sufficiently
cleaned ... evidence in the bathroom gave evidence that
a recent guest was a black-haired male, probably east
or southeast Asian, 20-40 and probably 25-35, who blows
his nose in the shower and who has some interest in
herbal medicine. I'm afraid I didn't help the general
ambience by getting a double-barrelled nosebleed in the
shower.

Finally, the pillows smelled of old Caucasian male. I
found one eventually that didn't - it smelled of old
Caucasian female who used Vick's Vap-O-Rub - and slept
okay.

Any suggestions on Best Western properties?

Kinda why I said Papago Park is not quite in the best of areas... while E Van Buren isn't too bad compared to the other parts, the area north of there is not quite the best of neighborhoods (around 52nd street and north to Thomas). Plus the area bordering Papago Park and Van Buren is known being a bit 'roudy' at nights among the bushes.

The Ramada near 44th street isn't too bad, but I'd look at the Radisson or Crowne Plaza just around the corner. If you want cheap, I'd recommend the hotels just south of the airport near Broadway and 143/153 before considering staying on Van Buren.

My 1st Flyertalk Do (in a long time)
 

I will be in PHX on Friday the 13th and would love to meet up for dinner. I am staying at the Four Points Metrocenter.

Dave

Sent you an email since I dont see any Fri nite plans yet - are you going to be around for dinner on the Sat nite?

Jan

I'm officially out. Have fun everyone! Cheers.

Is anyone arriving in PHX between 6pm and 9pm on Friday night? I'm going to be trying to get down there from MSP on US and if I could share a ride to the dinner/Friday night festivities location, I would sure appreciate it.

My arrival time is uncertain for two reasons: 1) I am flying non-revenue, so there's no guarantee I can even get on a flight, and 2) US' website says there is a 5:13pm departure from MSP while the downloadable timetable says there is not one on Fridays. I'm not sure which one is correct. If there isn't a 5:13pm flight, I'll be getting in a little after 8:30.

Thanks. :)

FWIW (by design ;) ) the Friday PM activities are very accessible by public transit--- buses every 15 min. from the terminal for a 10 min. ride into Tempe. From there we can get you to your hotel (as long as you didn't book that one far out hotel you were talking about by PM :rolleyes: ;) )