F&F Meetup
 

I think fire bolt suggested this and I'm really interested in doing it....if this is against the rules then strike this down, moderator! I'd love to plan a Texas get together for anyone that is interested....maybe November December for a Saturday somewhere central to everyone-grab lunch, talk, play with our kids.....Thoughts??

F- we have people from all over the world on SR. How could u pull this off.. like an alanon meeting??

Sounds like a wonderful idea, kind of like an alumni meet-up. :)

Might start a series of regional meet-ups.

One part of me wants to caution meeting up with virtual strangers. I have also witnessed miracles happen in my own life & with others here.

Amazing things in life happen when two or more meet together and are open to healing, change and personal growth.

I did go to one of these "retreats' when I was on a verbal abuse website. I think 8 of us made it there. We went camping. I had a terrific time. Don't know if I can make it to Texas though. Let me know how it turns out.

((((((((((hugs))))))))))))
amy

I also went to a "retreat" in Canada. There was 15 of us there. The thing you need to worry about with these is the "crazy" partners.

I see you are looking for in your area, and maybe not as widespread of what I did.

We even had people coming to the US from Australia, and UK.

I have to say though, that in your own local area, not a good idea. Could be too much danger.

amy

I LOVE the idea of regional meetups for anyone that feels comfortable doing it! We could try to make them so no one has more than a few hundred mile drive.

NW US meetup - I am in Montana. If anyone in the surrounding states wants to meet in the spring, I'm happy to organize if ya'll PM rough location we could pick somewhere in the middle. I think this could all be set up through PM to hopefully avoid any potential crazy partners.

I'd be down with a meetup in the southeastern Wisconsin/Chicagoland/northwest Indiana area...

I am interested however that time of year is not really good with the holidays. Plus I am going to Vegas over Thanksgiving :) !!

Go any ideas on where?

I also like the idea. I'm in Northern California... I'd be willing to do some travel...

Kboys - Maybe Reno or SLC area?! Amy mentioned a camp out and I love that idea.

Hey firebolt- I like Amy's camping idea too...
Yeah, somewhere around the SLC area sounds like it might be a middle ground for some of us?

Yes-I think setting up through PM would be a great idea!

I did this a couple of times when active on a dog lovers forum and we all brought our dogs!

The one that I went to was about 20 minutes from Lake Michigan. It was back in 2006. There were 2 of us coming from NJ, one from Indiana, one from Maine, and one from Chicago, with 2 children. NH never made it, with her children. I made a lot of really good friends that weekend. This was the first time anyone on that website got together to meet others on the forum. We also did the Canada one the next year. Again, I split the driving with the one from NJ. We also had people from Md, Maine, RI, Wisconsin, Canada, NC, Michigan, and Texas. For that one we had a total of 15 adults, and 3 children.

For anyone who wants to take this on in making the plans, remember to get the money up front. For a camping site, you may not lose that much, but the Canada trip was a hotel. The person who ran that one, told us to give her the money when we got there. She had to pay for an extra room that no one used. We did chip in to help her cover that cost.

After those 2 trips, "retreats", many started to have their own also, and were offering their houses for the stay, that was when Australia, and UK, started to come in. I didn't make those trips because my marriage was so bad at that time.

I just wanted to say that if there is a way that I could attend one of these again, that I would do it. It was so great to meet up with the people that I was talking to daily. They are/were the greatest bunch of people I ever met.

Also, remember, use caution.

((((((hugs))))))
amy

Sounds pretty cool to me. I'm divorced and have no one to answer to. keep me in the loop.

I'm in North East Pa, (NEPA). I have Knoebels Amusement Park available to me. Something like this is another thing that you can look at.

In this Park you can reserve a pavilion, it's free of charge for this. The admission to the park is also free, you just pay for the rides, and that price is reasonable also.

Knoebel's also has a camping ground, trailer ground, and they also rent cabins.

The pavilion is equipped with a BBQ, or you can bring your own. If you rent a pavilion, you can actually tell them at parking, (which there is charge for), and you can park at that pavilion. Providing, that it isn't that big of a "retreat". I'm sure there are other places like this.

My ideas on this would be,

first, to possibly divide this into regions, perhaps by a "poll".

second, child or no child

Third, the cost

Fouth, how long, a day trip, a weekend?

Just throwing ideas out there for you.

In the winter, there are many huge houses with a lot of bedrooms in them to rent at the shore. That's another possibility, but get a guaranteed number and the deposit. Little bit tricky here. You need to trust the person that you are sending the deposit to. Something to work on.

I have also been to family reunions, where they rent a pavilion in a park. Also would include BBQ equipment, very low cost.

High end would be reserving a block of rooms at a hotel. Need to tell you a funny story about my trip to Canada. We had gone to the Hard Rock cafe for dinner. Everyone had paid for dinner already, and most got into groups to go out for the night. Not me. To cut my cost, I went with a roommate and that roommate had a 2 yo so we went back to the hotel. That was OK, because they were having an animal show at our hotel and the 2 yo loved it. But getting off track here. So 2 people had stayed around to wait for the waitress, and settle up the bill. They left about 10 minutes after we did. Remember this was an abuse forum group that I was with.

When they walked out of there, O J Sim pson was in the waiting area, with all of these people wanting to get his autograph. :dee

I just wish you a lot of luck with this.

Hope if things work out, there might be one close to where I am.

((((((((((hugs)))))))))
amy

amy, you won't believe this but swear to god it's true.

I attended a DV conference in New Orleans in 2002, I believe it was, and stayed a couple of extra days to sightsee. Went to a late dinner with people from a tour group I was tagging along with (not with the DV crowd--conference was over). There was ONE other party in the restaurant--a table full of guys wearing football jerseys, surrounded by gorgeous women. Our friend OJ was holding court (if you'll excuse the expression). I started fuming to the people at my table about how I was there for a DV conference and there's the offing MURDERER sitting there having a great time with his buds.

He must have seen me shooting daggers at him, because when his group left he waved down the table at me and said, "Hey, we all gotta forgive." I said, "No, we don't" His face darkened and he said, "Sure we do." (Looked like he'd had a few.) I said, "Excuse me, I do not HAVE to forgive ANYONE." (Yeah, I'd had a few, too, at that point).

He got this LOOK on his face that I'm sure was a familiar one to Nicole, and just then one of his buddies put his arm around his shoulders and walked him out.

Brrr. I made sure I walked out with my group.

I am SO HAPPY he's finally where he belongs.