2004 Reunion
Four Points Sheraton Riverwalk North Hotel
San Antonio, TX
May 12-15, 2004
The 2004 reunion was in San Antonio, TX from
May 12-15, 2004.
The crew and guests stayed at the Four Points Sheraton
Riverwalk North hotel. Most people arrived on Wednesday and
renewed friendships in the hospitality room. On Thursday while the crew
was having their meeting, the ladies met for a white elephant exchange.
It was decided that the 2006 reunion will be held in Annapolis, Maryland
which of course is the location of the Naval Academy but in very close
proximity to Washington, D.C. for sightseeing.
On Friday, everybody boarded a bus and took a trip to Fredericksburg
which is the hometown
of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. The high point of the tour is the
National Museum of the Pacific War. Of course some people (we won't say
ladies) decided to take advantage of the excellent shopping in town.
Since Fredericksburg is an old German settlement, lunch was decided by
each person and probably most sampled the excellent German cuisine.
Saturday night had the closing banquet at the 7A Cattle Ranch,
about 45 minutes outside of San Antonio. This is a working cattle ranch that hosts chuck wagon parties. The
ranch has been in operation for over 100 years and is designated as a "Heritage Ranch" by the state of Texas.
They raise beef the old fashioned way, without feed lots or chemicals - just range fed cattle.
Everyone seemed to enjoy dressing up in cowboy attire and forgoing the
dress-up clothes which usually accompany the closing banquet. Hopefully
this tradition of casual clothes will continue. After an excellent
barbecue dinner complete with campfire coffee and homemade pies, we were
entertained by the Fire on the Mountain Cloggers which is an excellent
clog dance team. The guests could then attend a night-time hay ride with
fireflies/lightning bugs in the fields.
There were 15 crew members in attendance this year and since there
are 78 known living crew members hopefully the attendance will be much
higher in Annapolis in two years.
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