Saturday, April 12, 2014

Air America Association 2014 Reunion

Air America Association, Inc.
&
Civil Air Transport
A Joint Reunion
2014
Arlington, Texas
May 28 - June 1, 2014
Come Join Us In Arlington While We Share Old Memories and Make New Ones
Crowne Plaza Arlington
700 Ave H East
Arlington, Texas, 76011

The room rate is $105.00 per night plus tax. This is an all-suite hotel. They are offering us a discounted breakfast coupon for $8.50 a person (Tickets can be purchased with registration, at check in or daily in the restaurant). They offer free airport shuttle from DFW International Airport from 6:00 am until 10:00 pm daily. Also, we have free onsite parking.

You can make reservations by calling 817-394-5000. Be sure to tell them you are with Air America.
You can also make reservations online at Crowne Plaza Suites Arlington - Ballpark

Book early, you can always cancel.
Important Note: You must book your rooms by May 7th, 2014.

For More Information please contact: Kathy Bruner: 512-689-8624; kathy.bruner@air-america.org
____________________________

It is reunion time again! This year we will be returning to the Dallas Fort Worth area. It will be held May 28, 2014 through June 1, 2014. Also this year CAT members will be joining us. We will be keeping with our reunion traditions but will also be adding a few of CAT's traditions such as the Chinese Dinner.  

This year we have chosen to go to the City of Arlington due to free parking and free airport shuttle from DFW Airport. The room rate is $105 per night plus tax. Reservations can be made by calling 817-394-5000, or by website at http://www.crowneplaza.com/redirect?path=hd&brandCode=cp&localeCode=en&regionCode=1&hotelCode=DALCP&_PMID=99801505&GPC=ARA (Can only be opened in Google for the present. Please copy and paste into Google Browser. Working with hotel so you can open it in other browsers) Please be sure to mention you are with Air America. Make your reservations early! You can always cancel! The hotel is also offering discounted breakfast for $8.50 a person per day. These can be purchased on the registration form and also daily at the hotel.  

The Registration Desk, Hospitality Room and General Store will open at noon on Wednesday. Our first event will be Thursday afternoon where we will be going to McDermott Library at University Texas Dallas where the CAT/Air America achieves is housed. We will spend an hour or so there and then travel to the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field where we take a tour of the museum and have dinner. The cash bar will open at 5:15 pm and for dinner we will be serving Chicken Fried Steak and Grilled Chicken Breast along with Fire Roasted Vegetables, Grilled Asparagus, Jalapeno Black Eyed Peas, Garlic Mash Potatoes, Black Pepper Gravy, Yeast Rolls, Salad and for desert we will be having Vanilla Buttermilk Pie and Chocolate Fudge Pecan Pie. Doesn't that just make your mouth water? Dinner will be served at 6:30 pm. We will leave the museum at 8:30 pm to return to the hotel.

Our annual golf tournament will be held on Friday morning. We will tee off at 8 am. The course this year is Great Southwest Private Golf Club. It was founded by Byron Nelson and Ralph Plummer, a historic golf course with Tif 419 Bermuda fairways, Champions Bermuda greens and enough water hazards and sand bunkers to challenge even the best golfers. Not sure what all that means but I am sure there are golfers out there who do. So get your teams together!

The rest of the group on Friday will be going to the Fort Worth Stockyards. We will arrive in time to see a Longhorn Cattle Drive. Have your picture taken with the Drovers as there will photo opportunities before and after the cattle drive. You can visit the Stockyards Museum for a $2 donation where it features artifacts from the Swift and Armor Packing Plants and the original Stockyards. You can also see cowboy collectibles, 104 year old light bulb (which is still burning) and the Bad Luck Wedding Dress. You can also visit the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame which pays tribute to over 70 cowboys and cowgirls. You can see variety of boots made by Mr. Justin of the Justin Boot Company. It also features a western gift shop and the Jersey Lilly Old Time Photo Parlor.     Admission to the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame is Adults (18-59) $5.00, Seniors (60+) $4.00, Students (13-17 or with college ID) $4.00, Children (5-12) $3.00, Children (Under 4) Free, Military (Active or Retired) Free with Military ID. There is also over 25 unique shops including a winery, and an art gallery. Lunch will be on your own because there are a lot great restaurants such as Cattlemen's Fort Worth Steak House, Cooper's BBQ, Love Shack, Los Vaqueros Restaurant, Trail Boss Burgers and more. More information is available at www.fortworthstockyards.org.     The buses will load to return to the hotel at 3 pm.

CAT Association has a time long tradition of having a Chinese dinner. Since we are combining reunions, we are going to continue that tradition. We will load buses at 6 pm and travel to the ABC Seafood Restaurant where we will have a Chinese Banquet featuring Peking Duck, Scallops with black bean sauce, and much more. We will be taking our own beer and wine. We will board the buses around 8:30 pm to return to the hotel.  After our return to the hotel we will hold the annual auction. So bring your items to donate.  You can give them to Kathy or Dan Gamelin.

Saturday morning we will start out with coffee and breakfast burritos from 8 am to until we run out. The annual business meeting will start at 9:00 am and run through 11:00 am. We will break for lunch and return at 1 pm for our speaker of the afternoon Mr. Jim "Mule" Parker. The hospitality room will close at 5 pm. Due to space issues we have had to move our Banquet to a different hotel.  We will load buses starting at 5:30 pm, where they will take us to the Hilton.  Cocktail hour will start at 6 pm at both hotels.  Opening ceremonies will start at 7 pm with dinner being served at 7:15 pm followed by award presentations and dancing. We will load buses starting at 9 pm to head back to the Crowne Plaza.  The hospitality room will open back up at 9 pm.

All costs associated with each event are listed on the registration sheet which included in this edition of the LOG and on line. Registrations should be sent in no later than May 15, 2014. Hotel reservations should be made by May 1, 2014. We have 3 days packed full of events and hope to see you there.

Air America Association.