DC/MD Slap & Tickle?

OK, so this is part quite last minute, and part quite not so last minute.

First the last minute bit; I'm taking a slightly spontaneous trip back home this weekend. I'll essentially be around from Thursday through Monday, just me(this matters for the not last minute part). While acknowledging that it's a major holiday weekend, I figured I'd throw this out there with the assumption that nobody's putting themselves out for a get-together of whatever size.

The not-last minute bit is that I'll be out there again from the 18th through the 28th. The catch that time, however, is that I'll have my kids along for the trip, so I have no idea as to whether or not I'll be able to get out and about, but I'll see if I can pull anything off while I'm there.

Again, this is strictly something I'm throwing out there, and I really do mean the whole no pressure bit; I know holidays can get super crazy.

Sounds good to me.

Roughly what area will you be in, Anime? MD? DC? NoVa? The Hinterlands?

I'd love to get a few people together for drinks at Victoria's Gastropub in Columbia, or somewhere else between DC and Baltimore. One downside; I'm without a smart phone for a few days, so coordination would have to be via this site.

If you need a couch to crash on, we have that too. But it's literally a couch. Comfy, but in the living room.

I'm staying with my folks who are across the river from Dahlgren, down the ass end of 301. But I've got my car and can get anywhere.

Monday, I could probably do, but I would have kids. I'm of course south about 20 minutes below DC. So, if you want to link up this way, let me know! Otherwise, the 18th - 28th stretch can suit something as well. Again, I've got kids - so would all be for a potential kid hangout time, too.

I'm not off on Monday, it's gonna be a busy, busy week. So, maybe Sunday? Where do you want to go, Anime? Or, you can come up here, we'll take you out to a nice meal and you can chill.

Sunday afternoonish sounds good.

Sunday should work for me too. If Elliott City is on the menu still I would love to go to Victoria's again!

Can you make it up here, Anime? My phone has died. I'll send you my number/address and make a reservation. 1pm sound okay? We can meet at my place and run over to the restaurant. We can hang out for a while afterwards at my place, although it's cluttered and doggy.

Anyone who wants in, 1pm Sunday afternoon, pm me, preferably today so I can make the reservations.

Sounds good.

Bad news... Victoria is closed on Sunday. I booked us for 6 at Salsa Grill in Woodlawn (6644 Security Boulevard, in the Meadows Park Shopping Center) at 1330. Vrikk, you might want to meet us there, although if you're going to hang out with us afterwards, it would make no difference.

Salsa Grill is every bit as good as Victoria, but has no alcohol license. It serves Peruvian food, which is not exotic or weird, and comes in huge portions. Probably my favorite restaurant. You'll like it.

I have a busy week next week so Monday is unfortunately out for me.

I won't be able to make it after all, guys. Sorry.

Reading comprehension fail, didn't realize there would be anything this weekend.
Not making it for today anyway.

Aw, man. Okay. We're about to head out.

Vrikk, you missed out in ways that words are utterly inadequate to describe.

Huge thanks to Ro and Kiri for hanging out with my goofy self.

I'm sure I missed out on some good ol GWJ antics that written words don't do justice for.

I meant food. Words are utterly inadequate for that place.

We had a good time besides the food, hanging out and chatting and watching my son demo Squirrel Girl and Deadpool in Marvel Superheroes. I think we will have another GWJ player for that soon.

But I did miss seeing other GWJ types. Maybe we can do another get-together soon.

Ah, just noticed this thread (haven't really been on GWJ much recently), sorry I missed out on the fun!

Robear wrote:

We had a good time besides the food, hanging out and chatting and watching my son demo Squirrel Girl and Deadpool in Marvel Superheroes. I think we will have another GWJ player for that soon.

But I did miss seeing other GWJ types. Maybe we can do another get-together soon.

Yep, it'll be the first install when I get back home.

As for another get-together, I'll be back in town with my kids in a couple weeks for a bit. They're pretty awesome and well behaved for being aged 4-7, provided folks are cool with me having them plus a non-geek family member along.

So MAGFest is coming up and I was hoping to do a Slap & Tickle and this was the closest to an already existing thread I could find.

The day would be Saturday, January 7th, hoping for around 5pm time since I anticipate must-see concerts starting around 8pm that evening. Hoping to have a decent enough head count by the 31st so I can call and make reservations at... a local place.

It will be in National Harbor, MD which is like 3x3 city blocks.

I am interested, have to check with wife/calendar.

It is my sincere hope to be able to attend. Probably with my wife.

In my house mixolyde, Wife = calendar, and a bunch of other important things.

My 7th is already booked, so I can't make it.

I'll be getting back that day from a work trip, so if we return in time I'll join!

I haven't been to the National Harbor area yet either, though it's been getting more and more stuff lately (I think the new MGM Grand just opened).

The Bear Clan is possible as well. Have to see if Dr. Incurable and Robear want to come. Paleo may be in town as well.

I'm interested. I've even been to national harbor for a con before!

Whoo! I might get to meet people!

I'll try and look up potential restaurants in the area. I know there's one possible bar and one possible oriental restaurant that are both good. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as "cheap" in the area.

Polliwog wrote:

I'll be getting back that day from a work trip, so if we return in time I'll join!

I haven't been to the National Harbor area yet either, though it's been getting more and more stuff lately (I think the new MGM Grand just opened).

My boss recently went down for that and told me about an ice sculptures show thing. I'm gonna try looking it up and giving it a viewing because some of the pictures were pretty cool.

So there's no such thing as cheap in National Harbor. These seem like good S&T spots, though.

McCormick and Schmick's

Cadillac Ranch

Grace's Mandarin is delicious, but pricey, and the private dining on the site is basically $25-$30 a person at first glance (and can probably go up higher)

Public House

Redstone Grill

There's a few other places that are cheaper but also smaller (Elevation Burger, Potbelly Sandwiches) or lack a proper website to visit and get info (Granite City Food and Brewery, Nando's Peri-Peri, Thai Pavillion). This essentially sort of limits the variety on offer and average cost of a burger is $15 (which is usually how I establish a sort of "is this expensive or average pricing").

Let me know if there's a vote or food preference and on Saturday I'll see what I can reserve. I'll probably add some to the head count just in case, though knowing me the odds are more likely fewer people will actually show up than originally planned.

Waiting for a call back from Redstone American Grill to confirm a reservation. Currently looking at 10-12. I figure it's better to have extra space to invite people, or if I can get confirmation quick enough to inform Certis before they record the conference call.

Back up in case I cannot get any reservation is Cadillac Ranch. They don't do reservations so I'd have to call ahead and see what things look like.

So still waiting to hear back from Redstone. I gave them a call and they told me the Event Planner doesn't have a specific time to call back with confirmations, which... okay? That's great? Wonderful?

But just in case things go belly-up, I created a Slack for my friends and I to chat on. It's rit-magfest.slack.com, but it's also invite only so if you'd like to be on it PM me with your e-mail.