Let me encourage any Ruby programmer considering coming to Nashville for the Ruby Hoedown August 28-29: the Gaylord Opryland hotel is amazing.

To summarize the hotel:  imagine that Disney's imagineers captured Charleston/Savannah/New Orleans at their best, and put them under a giant glass case of climate-controlled, always-spring gardenland.  The inside of the hotel-land is a small city of walkways, gardens, restaurants, and bodies of water. It's really cool.

And the conference rate is a deep discount!  If you go online to book this hotel (7 weeks in advance as of this post), it's minimum $194/night at hotels.com or the oprylandhotels.com website.  (Searched for  August 27, 2 nights on July 8, 2009) So the hotel is a great value.