Geeze, time is passing and the SN are almost upon us. Armorers are flying out Monday. Anyone have local details to share? 1. Any real "gotcha's" in terms of things to avoid or allow for? 2. Is the Metrolink from the airport to downtown/venue up and running? No big surprises? 3. Parking by the venue? Is there any? 4. Recommendations for local eateries? I've just been told that Sugarfire is good for the local BBQ. Recommendation from a Memphian is that it's not as good as Memphis but better than what we get out here on the left coast. Any other useful tidbits?
Sugarfire is good. There's also a really great calzone place a couple of blocks down from the Americas Center called Sauce on the Side that is a don't miss opportunity. Metro is functioning, as far as i know. there are several good parking garages just next door to the center. traffic is always hell in st. louis. And for a really fun time, definitely check out the St. Louis City Museum. It's a great place for kids to have all kinds of fun, but it also has a bar and is neat for adults too. Also, there's Jilly's cupcakes that is pretty awesome. and Crown Candy is always a good experience too.
Oh, and for a little bit more of a drive, Ted Drewe's custards is to die for. Even Bobby Flay says so...
My favorite St. Louis attraction when I went on my 6th grade school trip was the Magic House which is basically an interactive science museum for kids (and people of all ages). Be sure to take a picture with your hand on the Vandergraph generator! Gateway Arch was closed for maintaince during the Jan 2016 NAC...hopefully it's open now so you can experience riding in a egg-like pod straight out of Mork and Mindy. Definitely worth doing if possible. Rooster is a solid breakfast place near the convention center. They're known for crepes.
Is there a list of vendors that will be there? I assume LP, BG, and AF will be there. I'm more curious about the smaller vendors.
St. Louis is fairly central so I imagine you'll see all the big guys and several of the small ones but I don't recall having a list in advance ever provided.
Leon Paul, Absolute, Alliance, Radical, Fencing Outlet, The Fencing Post, Art of Fencing, Because of layout of the venue and the number of strips being laid down, all of the vendors are located in various places. You're going to have to do a bit of walking around to compare prices between the vendors. The armory will be located at the end of Exhibit Hall 5 next to Absolute. The finals strip will be at one end of Exhibit Hall 3 by Leon Paul. The Bout Committee will be to the right of the entrance to Exhibit Hall 4.
For many years and up until early 2015 or so, actual lists of "Participating Vendors" for specific National events used to be included in per-event National Office email blasts and web pages. Then the National Office staff apparently couldn't be bothered anymore and sent this out for the 2015 National Championship & July Challenge: Participating Vendors Vendors will be available for your equipment needs at the venue. The entire "Participating Vendors" section was removed in mailings for later national events.
Personally, I think downloading an athletic packet isn't the best way to communicate information, especially having to download the day and eventually close of check in times. Having information relating to each event on the event page, similar to AskFRED's information section, with a link to the AH for any technical information would be better. When information has to be updated in various places, it creates too many opportunities for typos and unintentional mistakes.
The Arch is up and running, but from what I heard, if you want a ticket to go up on it over the 4th of July week, you had to order it back in May.
Seems to be plenty of availability right now: https://tickets.gatewayarch.com/webstore/shop/viewitems.aspx?cg=cat&c=gartkt
Just bought Arch tickets for July 4 (my one day off). Price was reasonable as compared to some other attractions I've visited in the last few years (cough, cough Empire State Building cough cough). There seemed to be good availability for that whole day.
Arch Museum grand re-opening is 4th of July weekend so that would explain why it's even harder to get in than normal.
Flights to STL are starting to be cancelled/delayed due to thunderstorms... Looks like another "January NAC 2018 in VA Beach" in the making!