More travelly goodness.

[drcuriosity]

So, while I have a travel itinerary and some plans already, I'll be looking for a few interesting things to do while I'm in the U.S - either touristy, academic or game-dev-geek related.

Pasadena/Los Angeles area
I arrive here in mid-July, and shall be staying with my lovely friends Michael and Becca in Pasadena. I suspect I'll be looking for other geeky/gothy/rivety/steampunky things to do, places to visit and so forth while I'm here. And maybe people to visit, if anyone I've met online in the past is in the area.

Versailles/Lexington area
This is probably the most-planned part of the trip at this stage. I'll be staying with Jana (who is several kinds of awesome, and I owe a pile of hugs and things to from over the years) for a couple of weeks. There's a couple of interesting research labs in the area I'm hoping to call in on too, if they'll have me.

GenCon/Indianapolis
Mid-August, I'm going to be attending GenCon, and talking about game/education-related stuff at the Trade Day.
I also have a hotel room that could use another person to split costs, if anyone's going. Hoping to put together something to wear for the Steampunk-themed dance thing on the Saturday night, also.

Seattle and environs
I was going to be hanging out with my friend and partner-in-crimeScience Trond on the way back from GenCon, but it looks like his visa availability issues may put paid to our splitting accommodation plans.
As such, I'm looking for somewhere cheap to stay while I'm in the area, if people have any thoughts.

My nifty friend Becky in Olympia has plans to show me wolves and a cider farm (though not both at the same time), and I may call in at the U.S. HIT Lab and see if Tom's free to catch up while I'm in the city. Other than that, looking for things to do and people to meet.
(And probably for the easiest way to buy Abney Park merchandise, while I'm in their general neighbourhood.)

Comments

[macramedildo.livejournal.com]

Highly, highly recommended: http://www.greentortoise.net/ The location cannot be beat!

Also,
Becky in Olympia has plans to show me wolves and a cider farm
*I* live in Olympia!!! I know exactly where she's taking you. :D The cider farm is SO much fun. Make sure she takes you to the capitol building as well. The tour is one hour, and it's sooooooo beautiful. Also, eat at Le Voyeur, and/or Ranch House BBQ while you're here.

[drcuriosity]

Wow, small world indeed :-) (Also: non-existential happy birthday to you, too!)

Green Tortoise does indeed look like a great place from whence to venture out into the city. The capitol sounds fun (seeing as I have history geek tendencies as well as tech/gaming/music/everythingelse geeking), and I'll keep in mind the food recommendations. Thanks!

[macramedildo.livejournal.com]

Haha, thank you very much!

Your travels sound fun! If you have even a modicum of interest in history or architecture, you'll LOVE the capitol.

Also, the Farmers Market (http://www.olympiafarmersmarket.com/)! Open Thursdays-Sundays, 10-3. One of the best open-air markets I have ever been to (and I have been to many, world-wide!) There's *always* live music playing. And if you love seafood, Seattle/Olympia is probably the best place besides Japan to get it. Make sure you get it prepared "The Northwest Way," i.e., deep-fried. haha.

When will you be here? (Unless it's within the next 10 days, you'll miss me, as I'm moving to NY. Wah-Woh!) You can probably expect this, however:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09tb8luF82c&feature=related

[drcuriosity]

I'll be there in late August - sorry I'll miss you, but if I ever do an east coast trip...

Over on this side of the Pacific, deep-fried fish and chips is the traditional takeaway food of a nation - as an example, I cite my friend tatjna's fish and chip shop review page.

A lot of my teenage trip to Germany was taken up with visiting various castles, churches and old buildings around the Ruhr and Berlin. Good Architecture is a definite plus.

What's the local music scene like?

Unfortunately...

[macramedildo.livejournal.com]

We're home to K Recs (http://www.krecs.com/) (Beat Happening, Mirah, the Microphones, Calvin Johnson, Modest Mouse, Kimya Dawson, etc.) but there's a total dearth of venues, so we hardly ever get good live music. There's two colleges, so of course a ton of shitty college bands, but if you want music, stick to Seattle.

Bright Eyes played here last fall though. and the Mountain Goats used to play at the Clipper (a shitty Chinese food restaurant/lounge on 4th). Ohhhhh, you'll DEFINITELY need to go bar-hopping on 4th, ESPECIALLY for Drag shows at Jake's!!

But other than that, you're stuck with "experimental cellists" and bands with names like "Terran Spiral" and "Bantha Fodder." :/

Re: Unfortunately...

[drcuriosity]

New Zealand has all sorts of bizarrely named bands (e.g. "High Dependency Unit", "Headless Chickens", "Urban Notion", "Cripple Mr. Onion", "8 Foot Sativa", etc.)

That said, "Salmonella Dub" is a lot better than the name implies, and "Goodshirt" do some highly amusing music videos. And you've probably seen the musical comedy of "Flight of the Conchords" by now - they seem to be our biggest U.S. export since hobbits and official replicas of The One Ring.

As it happens my favourite experimental cellist is unwoman, featured in the comments below ;-)

"New Zealand... it's not part of Australia!"

[macramedildo.livejournal.com]

Hah, yeah, I Love Flight of the Conchords! As well as my buddy ferrouswheel, who's also from Christchurch. :)

Sadly, though, here, a band name is a pretty accurate rendition of what you'll get, which is crap and more crap. I'm sure that experimental cellists CAN be good, but this guy was not. He played a 50-minute set. It was TWO songs, mostly aharmonic distortions. I was stoned out of my gourd when I saw him, and it was STILL awful.

Re: "New Zealand... it's not part of Australia!"

[drcuriosity]

You know ferrouswheel? He is indeed nifty, though I don't believe I've ever met him despite living in the same city. We seem to have quite a number of friends in common, though, so I see his comments often :-)

Luckily unwoman [website|MySpace] is a far more listenable kind of cellist-who-does-other-interesting-stuff-too. Worth a listen, even if it's not your typical taste in music, in my humble opinion.

By the way, would you be adverse to a friends-list adding?

Re: "New Zealand... it's not part of Australia!"

[macramedildo.livejournal.com]

Hah, far as I'm concerned, ferrouswheel is a celwebrity (omigod, did I just say that?). He's brilliant. But I'm pretty sure he's moved to Wellington now, so it's probably less likely you'll be just running into him (although the pink mohawk helps...)

I'll give'r a listen, thanks!

And... I tend to be rather nervous about new friend adds, unless it seems we have reasonably enough things in common, and they can be vouched for. I often discuss sticky/personal topics, and have been burned before. Can Joel, or a mutual efw friend vouch for you?

Re: "New Zealand... it's not part of Australia!"

[drcuriosity]

I've talked to a couple of people we know in common in various places (smarriveurr has possibly seen me commenting over on deathboy's journal a fair bit, and I see Joel most often over on tatjna's journal) - but at the same time I'm well aware that friendship and trust aren't necessarily transitive (i.e. "A trusts B" and "B trusts C" doesn't imply that A and C should get on perfectly).

If you'd rather not, it's not something I'll take personally. Being selective about who you share with sounds eminently sensible, especially on the net.

Re: Unfortunately...

[kest]

hey now, I've seen tons of halfway decent music in Oly basements! Mostly, to visit Oly, you need to not be allergic to hippies. Becky will probably be willing to take him to Jake's.

Re: Unfortunately...

[macramedildo.livejournal.com]

I'm so, so tired of the stupid hippies. I lived for 4 years in Bellingham before I came here, so it's been almost all college hippies--but at least in Bellingham it's an actually academic school instead of Evergreen, which is total bullshit.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Versailles/Lexington, Kentucky?

I think that's the closest you'll be to me and it's still several hours away. Hrm. Must plot. :p

[drcuriosity]

One of these days I'm going to have to do a U.S. visit with an East Cost leg.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Of course. The continent is rather large. You can't see everyone who demands your presence. ;)

What's frustrating is that I'll be in Indiana in the first half of July. :p

[drcuriosity]

D'oh! Sorry I'll miss you, barring some kind of localised spatiotemporal rift occurring in the Indianapolis region.

[wolfwitch.livejournal.com]

Nothing definite, but I may see about dragging him around on a road trip or two while he's here. :)

[krasota.livejournal.com]

If central VA (skyline drive/shenandoah nat'l park, blue ridge parkway, charlottesville) sounds appealing, I have a futon, a couch, and a king size air mattress.

[thatcash.livejournal.com]

Damn it! LA is many hours away.

[drcuriosity]

Indeed it is. I'd love to get back to the Bay Area one of these days, too - between the job and the nice lady from Arizona, I didn't actually get to see all that much of it while I was there back in '00.

[unwoman.livejournal.com]

Coincidentally, I may be down in Pasadena in July also (around the 20th, just for a friend's wedding.) Keep us all posted on your dates. :)

[drcuriosity]

Cool - I'm leaving New Zealand on the 17th (and thanks to the wonder of timezones, arriving in the U.S. then too). Going from NZ winter to LA summer is going to take a lot of acclimatising, but I should be hopefully fine by that weekend :-)

[unwoman.livejournal.com]

Rad! I might try to book a show on 7/19 down there. I'll be posting about it if I do. I'm not even sure if I'm going to this friend's wedding (she hasn't spoken to me in 5 years... but she invited me to her wedding. It's strange.)

[drcuriosity]

Most excellent! I shall keep an eye out.

[graeco-celt.livejournal.com]

wolves and a cider farm (though not both at the same time)

But...why why why would you not combine those two activities?! :D

[drcuriosity]

What Would Paul Bunyan Do? ;-)

[cheesecat.livejournal.com]

Oh yah o-o I'll be arriving in LA in mid July too.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

When do you need a place in Seattle?

[drcuriosity]

I arrive on the 18th and leave on the 25th of August.
At some point during that time I may be staying a short while with a friend in Olympia, but I have no firm itinerary at this point.