Baltimore/DC Megadope, anyone?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

New York does it. LA does it. Chicago does it, although they farm some of them out to Springfield to allow the city of the big shoulders to rebuild. All three cities have occasional mega dopefests hosting usually between 50-80 people. The Baltimore/DC metro area is the fourth largest in the U.S. after those three, and I say it’s high time we did it too.

I propose the weekend of Sept 20-22 for Balto/DC megadope. The weather will have broken from the summer heat, and fall in the Mid-Atlantic is georgous. There are so many things to do here, and plenty of places to stay. There are 3 airports to fly into, so finding a cheap flight is simplified ( GingeroftheNorth is flying into Dullas. Inconvienent for me to be sure, but $600 cheaper than going to Friendship…er…BWI ).

The actual dopefest would be Saturday night, most likely in Fells Point. This is the oldest part of Baltimore, and bars and resturants abound. It will be simplicity itself to find a place to host the dinner, and afterwards any possible type of place to go is within a few blocks. Jazz, blues, rock, folk…whatever anyone wants. Other things to do:

The Orioles will be in town that weekend, hosting the Boston Red Sox. A Friday night trip to the ballpark that set the standard for new parks would be fun.

The Mall in DC has more things to do than you could cover in a week. Saturday, a group could go to the Smithsonian, the monuments, whatever. It’s a trip all Americans should make at least once in their life, sadly we in this area tend to take it for granted.

The Ravens might be in town on Sunday, as might be the Redskins, the NFL schedule hasn’t yet been released to my knowledge.

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the world, boating and water activities are plentiful.

The Inner Harbor of Baltimore offers unparalleled shoping and a wonderful place to just stroll by the water, a custom made setting for doper romances. Go aboard a Civil War frigate in the Constellation, see just how cramped it was aboard the WWII submarine Torsk, and, oh yeah, The National Aquarium is right there, visit the #1 fish tank in the country.

There is scads more to do, this is just what occured to me in a brief moment of thinking.

So, what say y’all? C’mon down to our little corner of the world, hon.

2

I suppose I could diddle my schedule around…

This is incredibly tempting, Dave. A brilliant idea whose time has come. And with the Sox and the Os…(not that I can afford that, either…)

I can only say I would seriously consider it, if all the planets aligned and cosmic forces swung in my favor.

This translates to doing it on the very, very cheap. And I mean catching a ride down with someone, staying for free with someone, catching a ride back with someone, borrowing a toothbrush and underwear from someone (okay, not those last two, but I’m talking “Balto/DC on five dollars a day”).

But, damn, think of who would be there…You, Geo and very likely Bill, and RTFirefly, and, hey, will Ginge be moved in by then? Zappo could probably make it and iampunha.

So many wonderful Dopers counterbalancing the US Congress and keeping this nation’s capitol sane.

3

I’ll see if I can make it. I’m not sure yet what my finances will be able to cover it, but I’ll do my best.

4

Don’t forget me, children. I should be able to make it.

Jonathan “The forgotten MAD” Chance

5

A Dopefest close enough that I don’t have to carpool OR fly to be there?

You bet your sweet ASS I’ll attend.

I’m, what, about 2 1/2 hours from Baltimore? I am sure I’d even be willing to put some folks up, if they don’t mind the hellacious drive…

6

There is a very good to excellent chance that I could attend. Awwww yeah!

Zette

7

I’m just up the pike. Jenn and I will be there.

8

I’m thinkin’ I’ll be there… so long as I don’t have to clean up after these guys’ mess! :wink:

9

I’ll be back in school buy then, and since that pretty much rules my life, it would depend on what I had to do homework-wise. But, if my teachers are kind, Bluesman and I think a Balt/DC mega dopefest sounds like a hoot.

10

um, “by” then…sheesh.

11

Don’t sweat it Lucretia. We love you for the Arabian Nights outfit, anyway.

You know, Fall is gonna be jumpin’ for the MADs…

MegaDC in Sept
Zappo is planning to hold a fest in PA in early October
Dope-A-Ween II if people want the end of October.

Maybe we should just form a commune or something.

12

Count me in!
I had to bail out at the last minute on Creaky’s Valentine DopeFest, so I really want to come.

I vote for an O’s game, and then some bar-hopping. We have to hit Looney’s in Canton. Best mussels in town. Pool tables upstairs. It looks like a total dive, but that’s what makes it fun.

13

I may be living in Miami by then, but I will try to be there.

14

ummmmm, I’m keeping this one in the back of my mind. We’re still expecting hubby to get a job offer in Balto, and when that happens, he’ll be living aboard our boat in the Inner Harbor. Should that happen before Sept, I shall plan to attend that weekend.

I spent a lot of my childhood around Fells Point - both grandparents lived within walking distance. My baby sister works at the Cats Eye Pub on Thames Street.

So, it all depends on a certain corporation making a certain job offer…

15

My little sister’s birthday is that weekend, but I’ll see what I can do in the way of nudging the family festivities toward Friday rather than Saturday.

At any rate, I’ll be there for as much as I possibly can. And I’ll talk to the wife to see how many Dopers can fit on the head of a pin…er, how many Dopers she’ll allow to overrun her house.

16

I’ll be living in the area by then, so I’m definitely interested. Not sure that I’d be able to put anyone up (besides, you wouldn’t like the drive–“in the area” is relative…).

17

I live in Baltimore, but I can’t make plans that far ahead due to work concerns…

18

Well, the weekend seems just about perfect except that Sept. 21 is my sister’s birthday. However, I’m thinking she’ll be in Indiana then, and as such won’t mind me partying in DC in her absence:D

After a brief but meaningful discussion with phantomdiver, I have figured out the following regarding people staying at my place:

  1. No smoking. Mother’s asthmatic, other sister is partially asthmatic. I’m talking no smoking in the sense that you would probably have to go down a block before my mother’d even consider it. So if yer a smoker, prolly best to stay with someone else:)

  2. This place is A Mess. As my mom puts it, “We compete on the olympic level”. We have paths to various things, but we also have me and a teenage guy (my brother) living downstairs, and I for one don’t care how messy things get as long as I can find more stuff than not.

  3. We’ve got three friendly (big) dogs. German Shepherd, Rottweiler, and Doberman. They are very very very friendly. If you leave food below waist-level and the Rotty is one of her crate, expect to get it eaten. Or whatever. They do not bite, they just wag their whatevers very hard and say “OH HI I AM A DOG! IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU! HI HI HI HI HI! OH BOY! A NEW PERSON! PET ME! AND GIVE ME FOOD! YES! FOOD! YES! OH BOY IT IS GREAT TO BE A DOG NOW GIVE ME FOOD!”

  4. We really don’t have much space here. I would be hard-pressed to find room for more than three people. We’ve got a couch up here. Oh, and my sister’s bunk bed. So three people could shack up here (and that’s pending my father’s approval).

  5. If yer not 21, no booze. And no illegal drugs. I suppose if you’re taking marijuana for leukemia or something, that’s cool, but bear this in mind: if my mom finds it, it’s MY ass. And we like my ass:)

  6. My dad’s a monk. We’ve got religious stuff up the ass (told you we liked me ass!). Like, you walk in and you can see at least five crucifixes or something. And there’s other religious-related stuff around.

  7. Did I mention we’ve medaled in “fuck, this place is a fucking MESS!” three straight olympics? We compete with public restrooms.

  8. My brother is still in his “I don’t care” phase, and will on occasion walk around without a shirt on. It’s kinda icky and such. I try to get him to clothe himself, but usually to no avail.

  9. Our bathroom is disgusting. Like, really, quite thoroughly disgusting. Picture a college bathroom. Now leave it be for a few months and don’t let soap near it. “Well, we don’t PUKE in it. The toilet smells too bad to puke in.” (phantomdiver) We just don’t clean it all that often because we’ve basically gotten used to mess.

  10. My mom tends to go to sleep wicked early (like, before midnight). And the computer is in my parents’ room. And my brother and sister will likely be home for the weekend, though I could always encourage them to be social or something. However, we have a decently-extensive movie collection for your perusal if you can’t sleep (or don’t want to).

  11. If you’re looking to get laid, the place to do so is not my house. And if you get so drunk you can’t walk, it’s probably not in your best interests to stay with me:)

  12. Does the phrase “abandon all hope, ye who enter here” mean anything to you?:slight_smile: I’m not trying to discourage people from staying here, just saying that a hotel is a far FAR better idea. There’s a hotel, in fact, not two miles from my house (Wolftrap hotel or something) which I hear is livable. I say “I hear” because I have never stayed there (never needed to). It’s also all of a mile or so from Metro (which you really must use).

Other than that … I am available, I would guess, to pick people up from the train station/airport, given sufficient advanced notice. Alternately, you can get from BWI to any metro stop fairly easily. You just take the train shuttle, take your preference of Amtrak or Marc train to Union Station, and from there you can basically go wherever. Vienna Metro is like 2 miles from my house.

My feeling re: picking people up is that it would be a wise idea to have one DC person waiting at Union Station, one at Dulles and a MD person at BWI. You all are, as always, free to stomp me into the ground and tell me I’m a stupid poopyhead for suggesting it:)

And on the subject of Balt/DC on five bucks a day … it’s $5 for a day’s pass on the metro. I have absolutely no idea where you want to go, but if you’re looking to use the metro for a lot of short trips, a day pass is the way to go.

“Metrorail $5 One-Day Pass a great value for visitors: Visitors, take advantage of the economical Metrorail $5 One-Day Pass valid for one day of unlimited Metrorail travel on weekdays after 9:30 a.m. or all day on Saturdays, Sundays or federal holidays. The One-Day Pass is available at the Metro Center, Pentagon and Metro Headquarters sales offices and at dozens of sales outlets throughout the region.”

Beyond that, I think food is cheaper here than in NYC or Chicago, for reference. If you want to go the supermarket “Get meat, cheese, bread and fruit and do the bag lunch” route, I’d think $20 could cover it for the weekend.

Oh. One thing I just remembered. I will still not be legal on September 22. If y’all want to wait until the weekend after Zapfest, I’ll be good to go. I say this just so people don’t go planning some elaborate fest at “If You’re Under 21 Don’t Even Think About Coming Here” restaurant:)

19

If I can work out the logistics, I’d love to come. I haven’t seen the O’s or had a decent crab soup in years. And a good friend of mine is relocating to somewhere near DC this summer, so I should have a free place to stay, albeit a slightly inconvenient one. Maybe I’ll even get him onto the Dope by then. In the meantime I’ll stay tuned for details.

20

Yes, Zappo can make it. Maybe he can even find a cheap motel room to split with somebody and do the whole weekend.

And don’t forget the faboo AirmanRobynBabyDopeFest @ Fabulous Castell Zappo in Harrisburg, PA in October!

Zap!