cheron98 wrote:When do you need to know by? I am leaning towards going, but cannot confirm right at this moment...

Yo, gang, we're still more than two months out on this event! It's all good. Relax a bit. BTW, cheron, I hope you'll be able to make it. We'll have to zip out after school and are sure to get caught up in Cleveland rush hour traffic. That traffic was deadly last time. Too bad the dinner has a start time of 7 PM. That makes it sooo tight for us, too.

cheron98 wrote:I think he's referring to the Jana Michigan Riesling from 2009, made in conjunction with 45 North winery from the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan. Michigan grapes, California winemaker, German background - Riesling fit for a king

ahh, sounds tasty!

cheron98 wrote:When do you need to know by? I am leaning towards going, but cannot confirm right at this moment...

No specific time frame, was just hoping to get a rough idea before calling the Wooster Inn to ask about getting seated together. Glad you are thinking about making the trip, do you think HAK would be coming along as well?

bahwm wrote:Yo, gang, we're still more than two months out on this event! It's all good. Relax a bit. BTW, cheron, I hope you'll be able to make it. We'll have to zip out after school and are sure to get caught up in Cleveland rush hour traffic. That traffic was deadly last time. Too bad the dinner has a start time of 7 PM. That makes it sooo tight for us, too.

If you take I-271 S off I-90 and stay in the Express lanes on 271 until they end it should save some time. Just make sure to stay on 271 by merging into the regular lanes instead of continuing on to 480 W via the Express lanes. There's about a 10 mile stretch of 271 S that gets very backed up during rush hour but by using the Express lanes you'll miss most of it. The Express lanes also get backed up but not as bad as the regular lanes.

chipgreen wrote:If you take I-271 S off I-90 and stay in the Express lanes on 271 until they end it should save some time. Just make sure to stay on 271 by merging into the regular lanes instead of continuing on to 480 W via the Express lanes. There's about a 10 mile stretch of 271 S that gets very backed up during rush hour but by using the Express lanes you'll miss most of it. The Express lanes also get backed up but not as bad as the regular lanes.

Cool. Thanks for the tip from the locals. Sometimes those GPS programs take one a bit out of the way or simply NOT the way the locals would go.

chipgreen wrote:No specific time frame, was just hoping to get a rough idea before calling the Wooster Inn to ask about getting seated together. Glad you are thinking about making the trip, do you think HAK would be coming along as well?

Doubtful. He's out in NYC, it'd be quite a drive for him.

Edit: Technically, 1.5 hours EAST of NYC. So. Yeah.

cheron98 wrote:Doubtful. He's out in NYC, it'd be quite a drive for him.

Edit: Technically, 1.5 hours EAST of NYC. So. Yeah.

Yes that would be quite a drive, probably 9-10 hours I'm guessing although he did say he wanted to pump up his airline miles to cover the return trip from the rpm tour.

chipgreen wrote:Yes that would be quite a drive, probably 9-10 hours I'm guessing although he did say he wanted to pump up his airline miles to cover the return trip from the rpm tour.

Nah he doesn't need to pump them up, he's just waiting for his anniversary miles to actually get credited to his account

Thanks to chipgreen for the PM about this - I had missed it!

Considering that a) it's Scott Harvey and b) I have family in the area, both the wife and I are certainly maybes at this point.

Not sure exactly how the Fri. timing would work since we're down in Dayton but we've got some time to think about that.

cheron98 wrote:Nah he doesn't need to pump them up, he's just waiting for his anniversary miles to actually get credited to his account

So I popped on into this thread only to find out that ya'll have been talking about me. LOL

sdilullo wrote:Thanks to chipgreen for the PM about this - I had missed it!

Considering that a) it's Scott Harvey and b) I have family in the area, both the wife and I are certainly maybes at this point.

Not sure exactly how the Fri. timing would work since we're down in Dayton but we've got some time to think about that.

I've added you to the maybe list, hope you can make it!

HitAnyKey42 wrote:So I popped on into this thread only to find out that ya'll have been talking about me. LOL

You expect to have a say in your own potential travel plans? Ludicrous! Flight reservations are being placed for you as I type this and ground transportation has already been arranged through the Sunshine Cab Co.

chipgreen wrote:You expect to have a say in your own potential travel plans? Ludicrous! Flight reservations are being placed for you as I type this and ground transportation has already been arranged through the Sunshine Cab Co.

He DID save his CC info on my Southwest account...

I made my dinner reservations tonight. I asked about being seated together and for some reason he was not agreeable to using a group name for us to reserve and get seated together but said that as people call in to make their reservations they can ask to be seated with me and my +1. I will send a PM to everybody who has expressed an interest so far with my name so that you can ask to be seated at the same table. The tables hold 10 people so if we get more than 10 we'll have to start a new table.

He took my credit card number but said that it won't be charged until about a week beforehand, at which time they will call to confirm the reservation.

I'm still waiting for the wine/beer festival to update their website with this year's info before buying tickets to that event.

On second thought... I am going to callback tomorrow and hopefully speak with someone else to ask once again about using a group name. My concern is that if people just ask to be seated with me, what is to prevent them from seating other guests at the table who didn't specifically ask to be seated with us? And how would they be able to tell who requested to sit there and who was just randomly assigned to that table?

I don't know how/when they arrange seating assignments but I want to be sure that we don't get split up because... that would suck.

chipgreen wrote:On second thought... I am going to callback tomorrow and hopefully speak with someone else to ask once again about using a group name. My concern is that if people just ask to be seated with me, what is to prevent them from seating other guests at the table who didn't specifically ask to be seated with us? And how would they be able to tell who requested to sit there and who was just randomly assigned to that table?

I don't know how/when they arrange seating assignments but I want to be sure that we don't get split up because... that would suck.

My wife I are in for sure now. She finally got bumped to full-time which means she has Saturday and Sunday of that weekend off, and works until 2:30. I will make Friday a long day/night, but how better to end it?

Let me know when you the get group seating worked out and I will call in my reservations as well.

chipgreen wrote:I will send a PM to everybody who has expressed an interest so far with my name so that you can ask to be seated at the same table. The tables hold 10 people so if we get more than 10 we'll have to start a new table.

Ready for incoming PM.

ddeuddeg wrote:Ready for incoming PM.

I just talked to Cathy at the front desk of the Wooster Inn and she said that she is the one who does the seating arrangements for the wine dinners. She was happy to let us make reservations under the "wine woot" group name to ensure that we can be seated together. She mentioned that she made a notation of "ww" on the reservation list next to mine and my g/f's names. So if you call in to make your reservation and speak to someone other than Cathy, you should probably mention "ww" instead of or in addition to "wine woot".

bump

Has anyone else made their dinner reservations?

chipgreen wrote:Has anyone else made their dinner reservations?

I'm still working on logistics. Hotel costs are kind of pricey, so I'm deciding whether to stay one or two nights if I am able to go at all.

cheron98 wrote:I'm still working on logistics. Hotel costs are kind of pricey, so I'm deciding whether to stay one or two nights if I am able to go at all.

Understandable. Hampton Inn probably offers the best bang for the buck of the 3 choices I listed in the OP but Days Inn is probably a bit less expensive.

Even though I'm in the area (about an hour away), I'm planning to get a room but have also not yet decided if I want to go with 1 night or 2. I'll most likely go with 2 since the wine/beer festival doesn't end until 10:30pm Saturday night.

chipgreen wrote:Has anyone else made their dinner reservations?

My wife is off work tomorrow so I will ask her to call and make our reservations then. I was holding off waiting to see if her sister was coming as well, but she can't.

chipgreen wrote:Understandable. Hampton Inn probably offers the best bang for the buck of the 3 choices I listed in the OP but Days Inn is probably a bit less expensive.

Even though I'm in the area (about an hour away), I'm planning to get a room but have also not yet decided if I want to go with 1 night or 2. I'll most likely go with 2 since the wine/beer festival doesn't end until 10:30pm Saturday night.

We will only be able to go for one night. We have to get back to sing in our church choir Sunday morning.

Don't think I'm going to be able to swing this. Going to try to get out to NYC for the next tasting and it's either this or that. And as much as I'd love to meet many of you, and as much as I enjoy Scott's stuff, getting a visit with my dearest HAK trumps all that

North316 wrote:My wife is off work tomorrow so I will ask her to call and make our reservations then. I was holding off waiting to see if her sister was coming as well, but she can't.

Sorry to hear that her sister can't make it but glad that you and your wife will be there!

bahwm wrote:We will only be able to go for one night. We have to get back to sing in our church choir Sunday morning.

Will you be taking back a bottle of Scott Harvey sacramental wine for the service?

Looking forward to meeting you and ddeuddeg!

cheron98 wrote:Don't think I'm going to be able to swing this. Going to try to get out to NYC for the next tasting and it's either this or that. And as much as I'd love to meet many of you, and as much as I enjoy Scott's stuff, getting a visit with my dearest HAK trumps all that

As well it should. You will be missed!

chipgreen wrote:Will you be taking back a bottle of Scott Harvey sacramental wine for the service?

Looking forward to meeting you and ddeuddeg!

I'll have to talk to Scott about the sacramental wine. Anything he could make would be better than what we're getting currently. Last Sunday, it tasted like soap.
Anyway, reservations have been made. Cathy asked if we'd like to reserve a room before she remembered that they're already booked solid, but she assured me that we'll be seated with the wine woot group.

ddeuddeg wrote:I'll have to talk to Scott about the sacramental wine. Anything he could make would be better than what we're getting currently. Last Sunday, it tasted like soap.
Anyway, reservations have been made. Cathy asked if we'd like to reserve a room before she remembered that they're already booked solid, but she assured me that we'll be seated with the wine woot group.

Excellent! I marked you and bahwm as reserved.

chipgreen wrote:Excellent! I marked you and bahwm as reserved.

Awesome! Nothing like reading it first on the blog!

bahwm wrote:Awesome! Nothing like reading it first on the blog!

LOL, well now you know

bump

We finally made our reservations for the dinner. The guy my wife spoke to was confused about the wine.woot thing but he put ww next to our names and said there were others with that notation.

North316 wrote:We finally made our reservations for the dinner. The guy my wife spoke to was confused about the wine.woot thing but he put ww next to our names and said there were others with that notation.

Nice! Do you anticipate going to the wine/beer festival the following day also? It's starting to look like there may not be much interest in that. Me and my +1 were planning to go but if nobody else is, we may skip it as well.

chipgreen wrote:Nice! Do you anticipate going to the wine/beer festival the following day also? It's starting to look like there may not be much interest in that. Me and my +1 were planning to go but if nobody else is, we may skip it as well.

Not 100% sure yet, but I think we are tentatively planning on going. We need to talk with her parents and see if a saturday morning/early afternoon visit or a Sunday visit would work better for them.

My wife and I just made our reservations for the SH dinner. We are only able to make Friday.

Now that the Hampton is not a SWA partner, we decided to try out the Rodeway Inn 2.5 miles from the Wooster Inn. Half the price, pretty much the same amenities, 4/5 rating on Trip Advisor. My general sense is that it's not as nice a property, but as long as it's clean and comfortable, and we won't get there until late evening and plan to leave right after breakfast, we'll give it a try. Plus we get SWA travel points.

laguar1 wrote:My wife and I just made our reservations for the SH dinner. We are only able to make Friday.

Great! Barbera Lang and her sister Zinny will be there too.

ddeuddeg wrote:Now that the Hampton is not a SWA partner, we decided to try out the Rodeway Inn 2.5 miles from the Wooster Inn. Half the price, pretty much the same amenities, 4/5 rating on Trip Advisor. My general sense is that it's not as nice a property, but as long as it's clean and comfortable, and we won't get there until late evening and plan to leave right after breakfast, we'll give it a try. Plus we get SWA travel points.

Thanks for the tip! I haven't booked a room yet and since we might stay for 2 nights, cheaper is better. Also, I was an Air-Tran rewards program member which has been funneled into SWA's program due to their merger. I'll have to look into whether or not I have full-fledged membership as the travel points would be a nice bonus.