3rd Annual Washington DC Meet – October 10, 1999
3rd Annual Washington DC Meet
October 10, 1999
DCDeb writes:
Well, I've finally recovered enough to put together a bit of a recap of our 3rd Annual Washington, D.C. RADP Meet. What a time we had!
It was a damp, dreary day, but 27 intrepid souls braved the icky elements to gather at the Planet Hollywood in downtown DC at 1 p.m. Winner of the Farthest Afield Award was again my partner in IRCrime, Laura — I think she only comes just so she can claim that prize 😉 — and her traveling companion, the ever-bouncy Tigger, who traveled for days to get here from the wilds of San Diego, California. The only other real long-distance "out-of-towners" this year were Michele (Pooh Peon) and her hubby Andy (who trekked in from Joizy), and Rusty, who drove 2 hours up from the Richmond area.
We were seated at 2 tables, but for as much as any of us stayed in one place, that really didn't matter. Although much of the afternoon consisted of us all
trading stories about past or future Disney trips, we flitted from seat to seat to hear the news from folks we hadn't seen for a while, or to get acquainted with new friends we
were meeting for the first time. And many of us even brought visual aids 🙂
DonnaB shared photos from her recent visit to Tokyo Disneyland and we all got to ooh and aahhh in green-eyed jealousy. DebWills and Linda shared an album of photos from
their recent trip to WDW, with lots of impressive pics of the Tapestry of Nations.
Jon (pandaguy) and his friend Tommy were the most
technologically advanced among us, though — they actually shared their pics via
their silver-slick laptops, which they had thoughtfully brought along. Russell
(Mr. LTDP himself!) surprised us with his appearance, and brought lots of stuff,
including a Viewmaster, that I didn't even get to see 🙁 Just what were all
those pictures he had in the bag, anyway? And I wonder if there was some
surreptitious pin-trading going on that I missed out on?
Art wowed me
with his customized Hollywood Tower Hotel watch, while Judy and Mike T generously passed out even more RADP buttons.
Denise revealed to us that she was evading the evil clutches of her TDS employer, while her daughter Chelsea vowed to not be force-fed this year, which was a pity, since it was one of my fondest memories of last year's meet! (But AFAIK, she was successful today.)
Others joining in on the festivities were LisaM, MarkG, Teresa
and her daughter Erin, Conni and Bob and their daughter Kate, and Joan and Will, with Disney proteges Erin and Liam. C'mon guys, chime in — am I forgetting anything?
I wasn't out of there until after 4 o'clock, and would have stayed longer if I thought I could have possibly gotten away with it… but it would have been pointless I guess, since everyone else had already left. To all those worried about how I got home, let me just say this — when you're calling a Virginia – based cell phone from DC, you need to remember to dial the *area code*, too… which explains why I couldn't contact my hubby to come and get me for a while. Never mind — it all worked out in the end.
Regardless, I had a GREAT time and hope everyone else did, too. I look forward to seeing you all again soon! Today's experience just reaffirmed my belief that the majority of the folks reading RADP are the cream of the crop — and that RADP *is* the community that we all want it to be, despite its
inevitable flaws and imperfections. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a special day.
And for those of you who couldn't make it, no matter where you are, we missed you! And hope you'll be
able to make the next meet — if not here in DC, perhaps in oh, maybe, WDW? 😀
dcdeb
TDC Town Crier (exhausted, but happy)
