Im going to be working on a project where I will need 2 nodes and one base station. To communicate with each other. I am going to be using an Atmel AVR for the processing on the base station. I have thought about playing with the Atmel raven stuff(for development) and then building my own circuit for the project. 

 - Is this a good way to go?
 - Are there any alternatives to the Atmel Raven technology(Do microchip have an alternative)? 
 - Should I consider bluetooth or anything else for the wireless communications?