The 2008 Seattle reunion was simply awesome.  As far as I can tell, the only major problems we had personally were due to some rather poor planning on my part.  To begin with, Nancy and I neglected to make our plane reservations early enough.  I am guessing that we are not the only ones who procrastinated when it came to making our airline reservations, and the result was much higher fares.  In the process of reminding everyone else, we simply forgot.  We still got there however.  We arrived at the Seattle airport on  Tuesday, August 12, 2008.  We had arranged for a rental car, it turned out to be a mid sized van which we quickly filled with luggage for Nancy and I along with my son Paul, Nicci and my grand daughter Samantha.  We also had several suitcases with hospitality room stuff along with two laptop computers.  From this you can assume that the airlines made a substantial profit on our baggage, I would assume that the extra charges more than made up for the extra fuel usage.

     From the airport it was a quick trip to the hotel where we got checked in and started to unload the van.  We were lucky that the hospitality room was not being used that day for another function so we were able to take the flags, flag bases,  memorabilia and other historian items directly to the hospitality room.  We also had the hotel shipping and receiving office send over the hats and cups as well as several boxes we had shipped directly to the hotel.  Nancy staked out her claim on the registration table and got things ready to start checking in people.  It was a long day, particularly because of the three hour time difference between Seattle and Virginia Beach, but after ten reunions, we were able to make it to bed at a reasonable time.  

     Wednesday morning we went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast since our group contract  didn't include breakfast for early arrivals.  Since I'm talking about the  group breakfast, let me mention how this this finally worked out.  When I was negotiating the contract I tried to get two rates, one for rooms without breakfast included, another with breakfast included.  The hotel offered us the with breakfast rate at $20.00 more per night for all reservations made under the group contract.  I kind of balked at this since the breakfast would not be included for early arrivals and late departures.  Add to that the fact that if only one person stayed in a room, they would be forced to pay $20.00 per day more to get one breakfast when the cost of breakfast in the hotel restaurant was only $12.00 per person.  So, I decided to shelve the idea of the breakfast buffet and accepted the without rate of $109.00.  When the final contract was presented to me to sign it stated that the rate would be $109.00 per night, single, double, triple quad and breakfast was included for all guests staying at the hotel.  Honorable person that I am, perhaps I should have pointed out the error to the hotel, but..................

   After breakfast, Nancy unpacked hats and coffee mugs while  I got busy setting up the numerous flags that we have received from many of the namesake cities.  Next it was time to put out the refreshments.  Seattle has an interesting requirement for groups wanting to provide beer at their reunions.  The law requires that each group purchase a liquor license.  I remembered that from when my father had the reunion for the USS Canberra Association in Seattle. So, while I was working on setting up the Hospitality room, my son Paul went with a member of the hotel sales staff to a local liquor distributor and purchased a license for the Association.  As soon as Paul returned with the license, the hotel delivered the keg of beer, got it packed in ice and tapped.  Soft drinks and bottled water was loaded into our cooler and bags of assorted snacks and munchies were placed on the snack table.  By 3:00 the hospitality room was setup and we were ready to begin registration. 

     Since the free breakfast was only available on the primary days of the reunion, those who arrived early did not get the free buffet, but starting on Thursday morning the hotel provided a free buffet breakfast in the Hospitality room.  It made for a great start to our Thursday Schedule.  Nancy did some early registrations Thursday morning, but by 9:00 am we were on the bus and headed out for our Thursday Tour of Seattle.  Starting out with a good view of the Seattle skyline we headed North to cross the worlds longest floating bridge. Our guide pointed out many interesting sights along the way including the headquarters of Amazon.com and Starbucks.  We made a fascinating stop at the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Ballard and saw where the ships pass through historic Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. We also got to see the salmon running the locks.  Following lunch at Pike Place Market we headed to the Space Needle for a bit of time on our own.  We were back at the hotel by 4:00 for more time in the Hospitality Room and dinner on our own. 

     The next morning Nancy got a few new arrivals registered, got them their ball caps and 50-50 tickets and then closed things up so we could get on the bus for the Friday Tour. Our first stop was Pioneer Square.  Our lunch was to be "On Our Own" at the Seattle Waterfront with some extra time to look around the many shops.  After lunch we headed for the Museum of Flight, one of the best attractions Seattle has to offer.

     By 5:00 we were back at the hotel and getting ready for the Friday Buffet Dinner.  After so many reunions, one of the things I have learned is that Buffet Dinners are simply hit and miss.  One just never knows how they will turn out.  This one was great.  The food was excellent and there was plenty of it.  As far as the rest of the evening, with a room full of Gunboatriders, how could we go wrong.  Following dinner many headed back to the hospitality room.  I went to bed.

     Saturday morning we held our annual Business Meeting.  At many of our previous reunions the one comment I often get is that the meeting is simply too long.  With Nancy's encouragement (and comments) I think I managed to keep this one short.

     Following the business meeting several of the members volunteered to join me on a working party at the  Evergreen Washelli  Cemetery.  This is something that I started doing in 2007 at the Buffalo Reunion.  With the assistance of Jake Jacobson (PG86) we received permission to do it again.  Following the working party we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the 2008 Patrol Gunboat Association Banquet dinner.

     I have always felt that the Banquet Dinner is one of the most important events at the reunion.  Most of the other things we do are pretty much just fun and games with an occasional break to get serious.  But the Banquet is our somewhat formal affair with a few minutes to stop and say thanks for all we have.  Dinner started with the cash bar in the foyer at 6:00

     Give me time guys, this will take a while.