After previous gatherings in Vegas and Chicago, this year’s gathering will continue our trajectory Eastward,* landing us in that place of institutional grift and glory: Washington, DC. It will be held the week after Memorial Day weekend, May 30 – June 1.
For a community that first gathered to discuss politics, I think you’d have to agree that meeting in DC just seems right. If you’re an Ordinary Times liberal, you can come and bask in the town that gave Americans the Affordable Care Act. If you’re an OT conservative, with any luck you’ll be here for the House’s 100th vote to repeal it.** And if you’re an OT libertarian, well, know that DC has some really fabulous restaurants.
Although the exact itinerary has yet to be determined, this year will be similar to past Leaguefests: Drinks on Friday evening, a dinner on Saturday evening, and some tourist-y options during the days. Previous year’s daytime activities have included such things as going to an aquarium, a pinball museum, and a Cubs game, shaking Russell’s faith in humanity with a walk down the Las Vegas strip, and, of course, what will no doubt always remain Leaguefest’s crowning jewel: a sailing trip on Lake Michigan captained by our very own Angela.
In the next week or so, we’ll look to reserve a block of rooms at a nice but affordable hotel. So if you live in DC (or know it well), let us know in the comments section if you have any recommendations about hotels or even parts of town we might want to gather. Also, tell us if you have recommendations/wishes regarding restaurants, bars, or activities.
I very much hope to see you all there. It should be a blast.
* Next year we will either need to stop lurching to the East, or have Leaguefest in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Which, now that I think about it, might actually work.
** Little known House of Reps fun fact: Because of an arcane House rule dating back to the 19th century, after you’ve voted on something 100 times, you get your 101st vote free!
Follow Tod on Twitter, view his archive, or email him. Visit him at TodKelly.com
Crickey, two days after my birthday no less. I shall begin sweet talking the husband.Report
Who’s Al?Report
???
I have no idea. But if I can call you Betty, you can refer to me by that name.Report
(check the FP)Report
Dude!
The cherry blossom festival is March 20 through April 13. Assuming the weather is nice, that’s the best time to go. It’s liable to be hotter and stickier in June.
Maybe I’ll come down and spout random libertarian and anarchist phrases just to piss off yall 🙂Report
That would be awesome. Spouting random libertarian and anarchist phrases is one of those things that is always best done with a beer or scotch in hand.Report
Fight the power! 🙂Report
I told Jaybird that I was going to be too exhausted to go anywhere, even for Leaguefest, but he should go, and he said, “I’m only going if that’s when they send me to Annapolis,” ’cause he’s exhausted too.
Of course, if they DO send him to Annapolis, we’ll probably both come, because I’ll be lonely….
*dreaming of teleporters*Report
(IE, WE MISS YOU ALL.)Report
We all will be most disappointed if BOTH of you cannot make it.Report
Damn I wish I could be there. It would be a big stretch this year for me, unfortunately. Mrs. Likko and I are taking a week to ourselves out of town, only two weeks before this for our tenth anniversary.Report
I hope that changes.Report
It’s looking like I’ll at least be able to make it down for Saturday’s festivities, though I probably won’t be able to make it Friday night.Report
Woo hoo!Report
Damn it Tod!
I was going to post the Magnetic Fields song.Report
Hmmm . . . I might have to try to make it this year. I will have to see if I can make the financials work.Report
Try hard!Report
I so wish it were possible.
I so doubt it will be.Report
Rats. Clancy will be disappointed (as will I, obviously).Report
As will Knitting Niki and I.Report
@russell-saunders If I haul my butt all the way to DC (from Oregon!!!) and don’t get to meet you and your (what I assume to be gorgeous) family, I will be seriously disappointed. At the very least, you and Rose will just have to have a getaway weekend.Report
I must admit, I think my family is pretty cute.
Regrettably (in this sense), it is said cute family and my obligations thereto which make the prospect of a get-away in the coming few months an unlikely proposition.Report
Likelihood is exceptionally good that we will be there.Report
It would be really great to meet Clancy.Report
Good. I hate going to a conference and finding out I’m the only plant who isn’t potted.Report
I’ve always wanted to go to DC… 🙂Report
Now you have no excuses!Report
So, after DC, it should move around to the Bay Area, right? Right???
Sadly, I don’t think I can make this one, in other words.Report
Bay Area sounds good to me. Anybody up for a wine-tasting-themed LeagueFest, with some hiking in Muir Woods and a baseball game at the most beautiful park in the world as extras?Report
Just don’t arrive in a white bus.
We don’t take kindly to folks in white busses round here.Report
Sorry to hear that, both of you guys.
It was actually hitting me that one of these times I should should do it in Portland, where I can host a big dinner and even some rooms fro people. Would you guys be able to get that far north, or is it kind of Bay or bust for you two>Report
Actually, Portland would be very doable, though if half what I hear is true, I’d have to pry myself away from Powell’s to spend time with the rest of you.Report
west coast would be great.Report
Portland in doable, and one of my oldest friends lives there, so bonus!Report
Portland!!! Except, I go there several times a week, so I wouldn’t get my traveling fix… Oh well, Portland!!!!Report
Portland would also be swell for us, and don’t worry, Mike, we can hang out at Powell’s together.
(Once, before I knew Tod and Knitting Niki, a friend and I drove from Seattle to Portland and back, as a day trip, in a rainstorm, just to spend a few hours at Powell’s. We also ate at that pizza place across the street. That is the extent of my Portland experience. Oh wait, no, there was also the very weird morning I spent at a Greyhound station there… Anyway, it would be AWESOME to have a LeagueFest where Tod can cook for us :).)Report
@maribou
Roco’s Pizza!!! They had the best vegan pizza EVER! Although, Pizza Go-Go is a close second, but it’s not downtown. Anyway, Roco’s isn’t there any more! It’s a different pizza place now. I haven’t had it yet. There is a great comic book shop right around the corner, too. Not that I ever spend any time at Powell’s or anything… I just happen to know all of the surrounding businesses…Report
Wish I could but we will be picking up my husbands kiddos for the summer right about then and well they take precedence. Would really love to get back to DC How about out in the Midwest one year Oklahoma anyone Tod you could visit your sister. Or Louisville then I could meet Mike D and get to visit my sisterReport
@anne “my husbands kiddos… take precedence.”
Over us? You clearly need to re-prioritize your life.
Oh! And I head to OKC in April. Want to recommend a bar in OKC proper I should try? Kind of want to get out of Norman some night.Report
I shall have no one before myTOD 🙂
Let me know when in April and I can come up with a few ideas. You want just a bar or some place with food as well? Would love to get to see you if that is possibleReport
I am going to try very, very hard to make it to this one. Wife will not be attending because school will still be in session until mid-June (snow days have REALLY piled up this year). I have been told that I must submit a budget to the finance committee and they will give their approval based on available funding. Of course, the committee only consists of one person who just happens to be going to New Orleans with her girlfriends when said school year ends so…I can always play that card.
As for the move eastward, let’s face it folks, the east coast is the best coast. With that said, I would welcome a trip to Portland. Once that trip is complete, having also been to Portland, ME, I can finally and truthfully sing the words to my favorite song,
“I’ve traveled o’er this country wide seeking fortune fair
Up and down the two coast lines I’ve traveled everywhere
From Portland East to Portland West back along the line
I’m going now to the place that’s best that old hometown of mine
Eight more miles and Louisville will come into my view
Eight more miles on this old road and I’ll never more be blue
I knew some day that I’d come back I knew it from the start
Eight more miles to Louisville the hometown of my heart
There’s bound to be a gal somewhere that you like best of all
Mine lives down in Louisville she’s long and she is tall
But she’s the kind that you can’t find a traveling through the land
I’m on my way this very day to win her heart and hand
Now I can picture in my mind a place we’ll call our home
A humble little hut for two we’ll never want to roam
The place that’s right for that love sight is in those bluegrass hills
Where gently flows the Ohio by a place called Louisville”Report
Well certainly it’s objectively true that the Atlantic is the superior ocean, quality rather than quantity and all that.Report
Well, if you go even further east, you can have it in Singapore.Report
As a DC resident – I’m happy to volunteer for the Steering/Beering Committee.Report