We’re back now from a sparsely attended, yet intimate reunion in Dayton, Ohio. The last reunion in Savannah in 2019 had 70 attendees. COVID took 2020 away from us, and was most probably the reason for our short attendance this year of only 28 people. A few of the members have had the virus, and some were home recovering from it. Dayton was further inland than we’ve been in a while, but I don’t know that the destination made a difference. We drove up on Thursday instead of Tuesday like the others, choosing to do the last part of the week and banquet. This worked out for us, but we did miss the trip to the National Air Force Museum on Wednesday. So, an excuse to go back.
The visit to the Carillon Historical Park on Friday was an extremely surprising and delightful trip. If you want to catch up on the history and life of the Wright Brothers and learn of all their accomplishments via aviation and bicycle engineering, this is the place. We had no idea of the importance of Dayton where invention and innovation were concerned. IBM started there. The Wright Brothers and aviation began in Dayton. Workplace innovations that brought about changes such as a cleaner workplace, health care for your employees, providing hot meals and educational resources – that began in Dayton. Not only that, but the acreage around the museum proper is dotted with beautiful and historic buildings that have been brought from all around Dayton. These include a historic tavern from the late 1700’s, an old schoolhouse, a covered bridge and lockmaster’s house next to a portion of the Erie Canal’s Lock 17 that used to run through the property. Lots of open land, huge and tall trees and a picnic shelter are there for visitors to enjoy. Fall of 2022 they will have a running 1850s era train that will circle the property. They are laying the track for it now.
And when you get hungry, the Carillon Brewery is just next door. This place rocked big time, with all wood interior, large casks strewn around, a large brick fireplace on the job and the staff in vintage pub wear. Had to buy some tee shirts and even took some film of the man playing the sqeezebox (accordion) belting out old Polka tunes. If you have a little time you can observe the preparation of the beer itself. Unfortunately we didn’t get to that, or to a tasting. Again, reason to go back!
My husband Greg and I, Cindy Deering and her father in law Ed Deering were the sole DD-467 family members this year. Ed and Cindy were presented with the original christening bottle from the DD-467 and a mail cachet from the commissioning that had been with the association archives. After the banquet on Saturday evening, we said our good-byes to them, as they needed to leave early for home in Columbus. Sunday morning we said our good-byes till next year to the rest of the attending Strong family.
Newport, Rhode Island is our destination for 2022. Right now our man Larry Tibbetts who will be hosting next year is busy trying to tie down a hotel that will take care of our group. Due to the pandemic, many of the hotels that would work for us have closed. Larry isn’t sure just how many of those might be back in business in time to be in consideration, so it may be a few months before things work out. In the meantime, if you are thinking of attending next year (God willing, the creek don’t rise and we have a handle on the virus) please pop me a note. You do not have to commit, just let me know if you would like to come, if possible. We need to help Larry figure out how many hotel rooms to request in a block to get the best price. This is not an inexpensive part of the country to begin with and we want to make it as affordable as possible.
Consider joining us next year, and if you have other family with either the DD-467 or DD-758 that might like to come, all are welcome.
-Tammi
The visit to the Carillon Historical Park on Friday was an extremely surprising and delightful trip. If you want to catch up on the history and life of the Wright Brothers and learn of all their accomplishments via aviation and bicycle engineering, this is the place. We had no idea of the importance of Dayton where invention and innovation were concerned. IBM started there. The Wright Brothers and aviation began in Dayton. Workplace innovations that brought about changes such as a cleaner workplace, health care for your employees, providing hot meals and educational resources – that began in Dayton. Not only that, but the acreage around the museum proper is dotted with beautiful and historic buildings that have been brought from all around Dayton. These include a historic tavern from the late 1700’s, an old schoolhouse, a covered bridge and lockmaster’s house next to a portion of the Erie Canal’s Lock 17 that used to run through the property. Lots of open land, huge and tall trees and a picnic shelter are there for visitors to enjoy. Fall of 2022 they will have a running 1850s era train that will circle the property. They are laying the track for it now.
And when you get hungry, the Carillon Brewery is just next door. This place rocked big time, with all wood interior, large casks strewn around, a large brick fireplace on the job and the staff in vintage pub wear. Had to buy some tee shirts and even took some film of the man playing the sqeezebox (accordion) belting out old Polka tunes. If you have a little time you can observe the preparation of the beer itself. Unfortunately we didn’t get to that, or to a tasting. Again, reason to go back!
My husband Greg and I, Cindy Deering and her father in law Ed Deering were the sole DD-467 family members this year. Ed and Cindy were presented with the original christening bottle from the DD-467 and a mail cachet from the commissioning that had been with the association archives. After the banquet on Saturday evening, we said our good-byes to them, as they needed to leave early for home in Columbus. Sunday morning we said our good-byes till next year to the rest of the attending Strong family.
Newport, Rhode Island is our destination for 2022. Right now our man Larry Tibbetts who will be hosting next year is busy trying to tie down a hotel that will take care of our group. Due to the pandemic, many of the hotels that would work for us have closed. Larry isn’t sure just how many of those might be back in business in time to be in consideration, so it may be a few months before things work out. In the meantime, if you are thinking of attending next year (God willing, the creek don’t rise and we have a handle on the virus) please pop me a note. You do not have to commit, just let me know if you would like to come, if possible. We need to help Larry figure out how many hotel rooms to request in a block to get the best price. This is not an inexpensive part of the country to begin with and we want to make it as affordable as possible.
Consider joining us next year, and if you have other family with either the DD-467 or DD-758 that might like to come, all are welcome.
-Tammi
RSS Feed