G.A.G.M.E. 2014 in Washington D.C.

Garber's Annual Gathering: A Monumental Event

 My family and I have decided to create a new tradition in which we will take a vacation together at least once a year thus labeling it with the acronym GAGME (the ME part allowing for changes according to where we go). Since there are a lot of us and differing ideas of what constitutes a good trip, how long is too long for a roadtrip, what we should spend, where we should stay, what our themed days should be, etc., there was a bit of discussion and compromise before we finally decided on Washington D.C. for our inaugural year. 
On the road to DC
I had never been to our country's capital and loved seeing all the monuments, memorials, museums and such but won't bore you with photos of the things you probably already know are there (the White House, the Smithsonian, the National Zoo). Suffice it to say that there was a good blend of tourism mixed with a fair amount of time swimming in the hotel pool, hanging around and laughs.
Bearpack outside the National Zoo where we did see the pandas
For this trip we decided to have themed days during our visit. They were as follows: Michigan day (see first photo above), USA day, trip t-shirt day and finally Ode to Mom and Dad day (since we also were celebrating their 60th birthdays and 35th anniversary).

The one and only time Daphne took a nap
Since we mostly traveled as a group around the city on the subways and walking, we did tend to get some odd looks from people as well as questions about our attire. Most people got that we were in theme but were especially curious about our green GAGME t-shirts and wanted to know what they meant.
What a group, huh
My favorite parts of the trip were probably visiting the Air and Space museum and reading about the Space Race, riding on the Carrousel with Daphne, going to the White House at night and seeing the pandas at the Zoo. Everyone mostly got along well and we were able to sort of do our own thing if we wanted, some people deciding to go different places because the public transportation was awesome and simple and D.C. really has something for everyone.

The weather was beautiful for us during our entire trip and we were lucky that it was never too hot. There were mercifully few crowds (except at the Natural History Museum) and our hotel was out of the main tourist area and thus quiet. I honestly have no complaints about this trip (apart from the long car rides).
Dressed only as Nonna and Poppa Walrus would
We have been discussing where our next family vacation might take us next summer and Chicago, Milwaukee and Toronto have all been thrown out as options. I am sure no matter where we go we will have a good (themed) time. How could we not?

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