Since it might help with coordination to have a concrete thing for people to agree to or oppose - let's have the Gathering on Nesh's birthday!

is whether we try and have this during the long weekend (July 2-4), which has the advantages of conteijung a holiday but the disadvantages of being travel chaos, or some other weekend in June or July (which will probably be less expensive but risks fewer people being able to make it)

(Zookeepers don't get federal holidays off, obviously, so that aspect doesn't affect me directly.)

—doctorlit, trying to be better about actually using his weeks of accrued vacation time

I can almost certainly travel, and I am well clear of school by Memorial day.

It depends on two things: Am I at college yet and can I take buses or another transit all the way there? Both have to be yes.

I'm gonna do some research to see if I can go. So, right now, it's definetly a maybe.

-kA

We can still offer 1-3 free beds, too. Since COVID is unfortunately still a thing and is unlikely to not be a thing anytime soon, we must insist anyone who wants to stay with us be fully vaccinated and get a negative test before coming. We're both vaccinated and will test, too. (Would recommend that everyone get tested before and after travelling, in general.) And FYI, we do in fact now have a cat. ^_^

Just to get the ball rolling, I'd like to propose Memorial Day weekend, which is May 28-30. Might be helpful for those of us with jobs. Alternatively, maybe Juneteenth weekend (June 18-20)?

The Lincoln Park Zoo remains my top suggestion for an outing, since it's free and largely outdoors.

~Neshomeh

Curse you distances!