By this point, the Naval Gazing Meetup is an annual tradition, and this year, we're going back to the spiritual home of the blog, Iowa, on May 8th-May 11th. I have an AirBnB as a base in Long Beach, although I suspect it may fill up. If so, I will try to arrange a hotel reasonably nearby.
Why should you come?
1. Seeing cool stuff. Iowa is amazing, and you'll get to see parts of the ship that not a lot of people get to visit. For Friday, I'm also planning a trip to the Western Museum of Flight in Torrence, although that won't take more than a couple of hours.
2. Great company. Seeing military stuff won't take the whole time, and there will be lots of interesting people to talk to, even if you're not into military stuff. Even people who have never participated in comments/Discord had a great time at the last meetup, so don't be turned off if you're a lurker. We're also planning to have board games available.
3. Excellent food. Rebecca Friedman is handling the food and all meals from dinner Thursday to breakfast Sunday will be provided. I am sure, on quite a bit of experience, that it will be delicious. She will be Dictator of the Kitchen, with full powers of impressement to secure necessary galley slaves.
What do I need to know about logistics?
If you want to be there the whole time, plan to arrive on the afternoon of Thursday the 8th, and we'll be running through 10 AM on Sunday. We're staying in Belmont Heights, which is close to Long Beach Airport (LGB), my favorite in the country. If you fly into there, we can probably arrange someone to pick you up/drop you off. If you can't make Long Beach, it's about equidistant from John Wayne/SNA and LAX. SNA is a much nicer airport than LAX.
For those staying in the main AirBnB (slots will be given out more or less first-come-first-served), expect the cost of that to be about $200-250. If/when that fills up, I will help make arrangements for a hotel. I'm also going to recommend a $50 travel fund donation in case there's someone who would like to attend, but is having financial trouble. (And if this is you, email/message me and we'll talk.) I will only collect travel funds if someone requests them. Food will be $40/person, or less if you're only there for part of the time.
Where do I sign up?
I've put together a Google Form that will serve as official signup. Please only fill it out if you are planning to come.
What if I don't want to tour Iowa?
Then you're clearly insane. But I am willing to tolerate your insanity, so long as you've been there with me before.
What if I have other questions?
Email me (battleshipbean at gmail), contact me on the Naval Gazing Discord (a good idea to join anyway, as that's the main comms channel when we're on the ground) or leave a comment.
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