Portland/Vancouver travel meeting - July 1 @ 7pm

The Atlanta group has been meeting for nearly 4 years. For the first couple of years, we met pretty regularly on Saturday afternoon at 1:30. The last couple of years we've been a bit less regular because of busy work and travel schedules. Still, we enjoy getting together.

The Panera here isn't friendly about letting us linger so we've tried a variety different times and places--sometimes with a travel theme. We've met on a Sunday evening for an early dinner at a restaurant that serves Sorrento Lemon Chicken, or for pizza at an Italian restaurant. We also went on a brewery tour to celebrate Oktoberfest one year and another time met at an Asian restaurant to celebrate the upcoming trip to China of group members.

I'd suggest discussing it at your first meeting--quarterly might be perfect for your group.

This would be fantastic! I live in Vancouver also and would love to meet up with a group. My husband and I are leaving at the end of August for Italy and I would love to pick some brains. :)

We could always do wine tastings at La Bottega in Vancouver on Wednesdays too.....

Count us in! Tuesday evenings are good (except last Tuesday of each month). Quarterly sounds like a nice compromise.

Tuesday evenings work for us. We're in Ireland and Paris for five weeks now, so we'd have to miss the first meeting unless it's in August. Will be home the first of the month. We leave for Europe again in September, so I guess August is it for us. We'll catch you later if that doesn't work.

Sharon, thanks for the ideas! I've never organized anything like this before. I think this Panera bread will be pretty friendly, I haven't actually been there but my dad's "geezers" walking group meets there once a week.

Everyone else: so Tuesdays evenings are ok? Shall we tentatively plan for the first Tuesday of every month, with the first meeting being July 1st? When is a good time to meet? 6:30? 7:00? I hate to deal with rush hour traffic on the I-5 corridor, but much later than that and we have the potential for bridge lifts.

I'll be heading to Italy for the 2nd time this October/November on a solo adventure, so that'll certainly be fun to discuss! And then I'll need help planning a family trip to France summer of 2016.

Angela,

just a comment.

why not ask Panera how they would feel about having a group take-up a table or 2?

if everyone were to chip in a for some baked goods and coffee, it may make it more tolerable?

I'm just looking at it from a business POV. I know its common for things like that to happen, but it cost the business $$$ if you don't buy something and just sit there for hours. Since JB is really busy and depending on when you want to do it, they may loose a lot of $$$$.

i know a italian bakery i frequented, you could "reserve" the place off hours for special occasions. but it was like special dinners and such. so, again, $$$ was involved.

just some thoughts. Maybe some local libraries have a room to "rent" or use. Since its public building, someone maybe able to reserve a room. at one time when JB was a "mall" they had rooms for use/reserve by he public. Maybe some local community college will have space of public use too.

if logistics get finalized, it would be interesting to see how it goes.

happy trails.

We have been meeting at Panera monthly for 4 years. We take up the big table and add anywhere from 1-2 tables to it, depending on how many are at the meeting. I usually get there about 20 minutes early to make sure we get the table. Sometimes Larry beats me to it. Some of us have stayed as late as 4:00 p.m. That's 6 hours. Not once have we been asked to leave. They even allowed me to bring a birthday cake to a meeting. I did bring paper plates and forks so they wouldn't have to clean anything up. And I did call in advance and ask permission.

We like Panera because there aren't servers hovering over us and trying to turn the table over for more tips. Also, they have wifi. That comes in handy when trying to help someone plan a trip or to just share some information.

One thing I find that helps is consistency. We meet the 3rd Saturday of each month at the same time and the same place. Even if someone doesn't get on the forum often they know we will be there. You don't have to meet as often, but I think in Sacramento we all enjoy our meetings. Sometimes some people don't attend because of conflicting obligations, but that's okay. When we first met we tried to accommodate this or that in picking when to meet, but it's impossible to do that with everyone. We just found it is easier to always have it the same.

Enjoy!

Angela, I'd love to attend but Tuesday evenings would mean infrequent attendance. We live down by Salem so Panera Jantzen Beach is a long drive on a winter's evening. Saturdays and/or someplace in Tigard/Tualatin would be more likely to get some folks on here from Salem, Corvallis, and other places south of Portland to attend.

At any rate, please confirm the time of the July 1 gathering. Thanks.

I was trying to make it centrally located for Portland and Vancouver people. You are very welcome to set up another group south of Portland. I can't travel that far since I have family responsibilities to attend to.

Any objection to 7 pm? We can discuss any time/date/location changes at the first meeting, or as needed. I'm pretty sure Panera bakery will be accommodating, but I do intend to at least buy a drink and a pastry. I'll probably show up a bit early to grab a table or two.

That location works fine for me -- about halfway between work and home.

Angela,

Congratulations, it sounds like your meeting plans are coming together nicely. It's great to see yet another RS chapter springing up. I get down to Portland occasionally (usually stay in the N.E. area), so might be able to drop by if that coincides with one of your quarterly meetings.

Good luck with the inaugural meeting!

Sounds great Angela! We will be there. Thank you so much for organizing!

Sounds like fun! I am hoping I can attend if I am ever down from Seattle at the right time.

BUMP! See you all tomorrow night :-)