The 2008 North Locust Conference: A Proposal
Our week in Annapolis was so exquisite; let's not wait two more years to gather again. We have already started to think about next time, and this is what we propose:
St. George Island, on Florida's Gulf Coast. We can rent a beach house for a week or so (they will be quite affordable with all of us splitting the cost), lie about on the sand, take sunrise walks, drink sangria, and prowl around nearby Apalachicola, a wonderful coastal town that boasts the best oysters in Florida, a bookshop with wildflowers out front and a wealth of local history, literature, and photography inside, and an excellent coffee shop. There are boutiques for Melody and me to explore, too. Perhaps appropriate discussion topics would be The History of Leisure or Les Vacances: A State of Mind. Maybe Taylor could give us a critique of The Real Florida, and Jeremy could talk about Ecology of a Cracker Childhood. Jeremy will wrangle crabs and cook them, I expect. And we will sit on roofs or porches and tell each other about school and work and bills and life, and be happy.
We think all of this should happen next summer sometime, perhaps early August. When you come down for Kristen and Nate's wedding, Taylor, you can see what you think. All of the rest of you can either trust us, or come visit and see for yourselves. We will take you to Papa Joe's and buy you oysters on the halfshell, baked with butter and parmesan cheese. Resist that.
11 Comments:
I'm in. I've stayed on St. George before, it is lots of fun. I lost some expensive glasses once when kayaking near the island. I have some more prepatory reading to propose: "Leisure, the Basis of Culture" by Josef Pieper. Then you will have a philosophical basis for justifying a Florida vacation.
Excuse me for that gross grammatical error in the faulty use of a comma to 'splice' together two complete sentences without a co-ordinating conjunction. I just couldn't let that faux pas pass.
I used to refer to it as catching crabs, until someone laughed wildly. So crab wrangling it became.
It was all the more unfortunate because they were lost just after Taylor's mother said, "Taylor, take your glasses off. You'll lose them." The aunts will never forget this perfect example of how a mother is always right. Fuel for their fire.
Yes, it's true.
OK, I hate to be raining on this but...
I think Annapolis worked as well as it did in part because it was relatively convenient for everyone to get to -- I'm pretty sure that's not true of Florida. Particularly Tallahassee. How about we all rent a large boat and cruise Lake Michigan instead. (See what I mean?)
Also, I will be on Mallorca in early August next year.
But good call on trying to plan early. Let's get the Bairds and Reeds thoughts on this, too, and maybe some other suggestions.
P.S. I will be enjoying leisure, not talking about it. But you guys can while I make the mojitos.
We did drive two days to get to Annapolis...
Atlanta, though, that place is accessible via air. If you (plural) get flights there in the same time frame, we'd be glad to pick you up.
I didn't know that Jennie and I were being referred to as the Bairds. We're not married you know. We don't have a car that will make the trek, plus if Jennie ends up going to Berkeley like I want her to we won't be in driving distance. However, as long as there is an airport close enough we would be able to come, and a beach house sure sounds nice. Of course, if we're going to have to fly anyway I vote for Mallorca, Tunisia, or Cuba.
Sorry. For "the Bairds", read "Steven and Jenny." I wanted to avoid too many "ands" in that sentence.
I am divided. Without question the beach would be tremendous, but the flights to Atlanta or wherever, even if coordinated among all who were flying, would be tricky at best. We could potentially lose an entire day just in collecting everyone from the airport, much less getting to the beach.
What about the beach somewhere in Virgina or North Carolina near a large airport? I'm sure we could find a similar deal on a beach house.
I must also admit that a large sail boat on Lake Michigan really appeals to me. And I've never been to Chicago.
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