[ARETE] FW: SLA 2024

[Wedge, Philip C.]

From: Obdriveway <obdriveway at aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2024 3:15 PM
To: Wedge, Philip C. <pwedge at ku.edu>
Subject: SLA 2024

Phil
Would you post this to the list serve?
Thanks,
Bruce

Regarding The Conference.

I know many of you are anxious to get final numbers for the conference and I'm working on that each day. I have been ably assisted and guided by Joyce whose help has been invaluable.  Between illnesses, power outages, campus closures it's been a marathon but the finish is in sight.

The cost of the conference will be $275.00. That includes all meals even the banquet, a tee shirt etc.. Some have expressed a desire to have a main course lobster option. That would be fine but you'd be responsible for a "catch of the day" additional price.

Lodging:
Here's what is certain. The numbers on the hotels, both the new on campus Ursa Hotel and the Black Bear Inn, five minutes away by car, will be lower than what we have now. Now the Ursa is $220.00/night. The advantage? It is steps from all the activities.

The Black Bear Inn is $180.00/night and close by.

There are a slew of hotels in Bangor which is ten to twelve miles away, but it's tourist season and they may not be much less money. And both the local hotel prices will be less especially if I know who intends to stay there. We begin to get a deeper discount with every 15 reservations.

Sadly, UMaine will not bill dorm rooms individually so attendees staying in the dorms will need to pay SLA in advance so we can settle with the university.

Dorm rooms are $30.00/ night for doubles and $65.00/night for singles. I will head over to the dorm to scope it out on Tuesday and hope to get some photos to share. The dorm price is solid but please remember that those rooms do not have air conditioning, something we would have laughed at thirty years ago. I can help with some fans.  Daily highs now average 75. It's not usually humid, but things have been changing.

The closest airports are Bangor 20 minutes away, Portland 2.5 hours away, and Fredericton or St John NB. While the drive to Orono is longer from the Canadian airports the convenience and cost advantage to Canadians includes fewer changes--then again there's the Air Canada baggage thing.

There is a direct bus to Bangor from the Portland Jetport and also from Boston's Logan Airport. It's a Concord Trailways coach and quite comfortable and reliable. I am recruiting some graduate students to help me pick up and drop off people at either the Bangor bus station or the airport, which are very close to each other.

I'll soon have a list of restaurants, ideas for downtime activities, and information on a Tuesday evening gathering place.

I will do all I can to have all the other final details soon.
Bruce
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