SAN ANTONIO REUNION SCHEDULE

(see below for some relevant pictures)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 (Early Arrival Day)

1pm-6pm: Registration, Menger Lobby for early arrivals

Dinner on your own

Thursday, April 28, 2011 (Arrival Date for Regular Attendees)

6:30am: Dining Room opens for breakfast

8:30am: Golfers depart for Fort Sam Houston golf course

9am: Fredericksburg Tour (early arrival option) depart Menger

8am-6pm: Registration, Menger Lobby for regular arrivals

6pm-6:45pm: Cocktails, Menger Patio (outside Ballroom)

6:45pm-9pm: Buffet, Ballroom (includes briefing on Reunion Activities)

Friday, April 29, 2011

6:30am: Dining Room opens for breakfast

Option 1:  8am-12:45pm, Parade, Tour, briefings & lunch, Lackland AFB

Option 2:  9am-12n, Tour of Historic San Antonio (lunch on own after tour)

Afternoon:

Option 1: 2pm-5pm, Tour of Historic San Antonio

Option 2: Self-Tours

Evening:

6:15pm: Shuttle busses begin departing Menger for Buckhorn Saloon and Museum

6:30pm-10pm: Cocktails & Buffet Dinner at Buckhorn Saloon and Museum

Saturday, April 30, 2011

6:00-7:30am: Complimentary continental breakfast, Menger Ballroom

6:30am: Menger Dining Room opens for full breakfast

7:30-8am: Move to Alamo

8am-8:45am: Memorial Service at Alamo Memorial Building

9am: Tour of Alamo (approximately one hour)

Option 1: Attend Alamo Miramax film at 10am or hourly thereafter (Rivercenter Mall next to the Menger & across street from the Alamo)

Option 2: Tour of San Antonio museums & lunch; departing Menger at 11am

Option 3: Self-Tours

Lunch on your own except Option 2 (Museum Tour)

Evening:

6:30pm: Cocktails outside Menger Ballroom

7:30pm: Dinner, Menger Ballroom

Sunday, May 1, 2011

6:30am: Menger Dining room opens for breakfast (special Sunday buffet breakfast begins at 9am)

Departures on individual schedule

General Information:

1. We suggest you do not need a car during the Reunion. Parking at the Menger Hotel is $25.00 a day. Parking lots near the hotel offer parking at $8 to $10 a day.

2. Uniform of the Day:  Daytime dress is casual. Thursday night & Friday night dress is casual.  We recommend coat & tie for the final dinner Saturday night at the Menger Hotel.

3. Weather: The last week of April is usually a period of very pleasant weather in San Antonio. Hot weather is just beginning to arrive. Normally highs are in the low 80s and evenings reach down into the low 60s.  Restaurants can tend to be over air-conditioned which mean that a long sleeve blouse or sweater is appropriate for the ladies. At the most, men should consider a light jacket if they are outside in the evenings.

4. Hospitality Suite: A class hospitality suite will be open most of the time during the reunion. This will be one of the places to get additional information as well as to kibitz with friends. Location & times will be posted in the lobby of the hotel.

5. Complete the Registration Form & mail it with your check by March 12^th to Frank Hart, P.O. Box 34477, San Antonio, TX 78265. Check should be made out to “USMA Class of 1954 Fund.”

* Denotes events for the entire class

_______________________________________________

Description of Reunion Activities

1. Thursday, 4/28/11. Golf for early attendees. Tee times around 10am, Fort Sam Houston Golf Course. San Antonio classmates will transport golfers to the course, departing Menger Hotel at 8:30am. Golfers should arrive at the course before 9am to ensure plenty of time to check in, rent clubs if necessary, hit a bucket of balls & practice putting. Golfers should return to the hotel around 4pm. Course fees, including cart, are $32. Rental clubs cost $5. Craig Spence is organizing this activity.

2. Thursday, 4/28/11. Tour of Historic Fredericksburg for early attendees. This tour takes you along scenic Hill Country back roads to the charming German community of Fredericksburg, once the edge of the frontier & home to brave German pioneers. You will have the opportunity to enjoy shopping & browsing in the quaint antique shops & gift boutiques along Main Street. There will be time to explore the expanded Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Museum & Historic Center as well as the Veterans Walk of Honor & the Japanese Garden of Peace. Lunch is on your own at one of the many fine restaurants in Fredericksburg. After lunch, the tour will continue with a visit to the LBJ Ranch located on the Perdernales River. Here, you will visit the Texas “White House” & hear tall tales of one of Texas’s favorite sons, Lyndon Baines Johnson &  former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson. The tour departs the Menger Hotel at 9am & returns at 4:30pm. Examine pictures of Fredericksburg at the Fredericksburg tour location on the 2011 Reunion portion of the Class Website.

3. Thursday, 4/28/11. Welcome cocktails & buffet at the Menger Hotel Ballroom. Cocktails outside the Ballroom from 6pm-6:45pm. From 6:45-9pm, the class will enjoy a mini-Fiesta buffet featuring Grilled Chicken & Beef Fajitas in the Ballroom. We will have a short presentation on the Reunion Schedule around 7:30pm. Cash Bar.

4. Friday, 4/29/11. Lackland AFB Activities. Friday morning will recognize our Air Force Classmates at Lackland AFB. All classmates & guests are encouraged to take part. Busses will depart the hotel about 8:00am & arrive at the Lackland Parade Ground by 8:40. We will be special guests for the Basic Trainee Graduation Parade - a stirring ceremony - & be seated in the VIP reviewing stands. Two members of the class will act as reviewing officials.  After the ceremonies are completed - around 10:00 - we will be bussed to the Basic Military Training area for tours of the barracks & other training facilities. We will then have lunch with basic trainees & Military Training Instructors giving us an opportunity to engage in discussions with some of America's finest young men & women. We will depart Lackland no later than 12:15pm so that those who wish to participate in afternoon city tours will be able to do so. 

5. Friday, 4/29/11. Tour of Historic San Antonio. This tour will be given twice on Friday, first at 9am to noon & then again from 2pm to 5pm. The tour includes stops at several historic sites including El Mercado (the historic Marketplace). Additionally, you will pass & hear about the Tower of the Americas, San Fernando Cathedral, The Spanish Governor’s House, La Villita, Hemisfair Park, & the Institute of Texas Culture. The fare includes a $7.00 value “Hopper Pass” which enables you to ride the Grand Trolley anytime during the two day period so that you can visit one of the locations that you saw but did not visit during the tour. The trolleys depart from the Menger every 30 to 45 minutes.

6. Friday, 4/29/11. Self-Tours. This option is available both in the morning & the afternoon. It recognizes the various historic attractions of San Antonio & the desires of some people to spend more time at a particular location or to be more leisurely in their sightseeing. The Menger Hotel is a stop for both the Via Street Car Line & the Grand Trolley line. For less than a dollar you can hop on the Via Street Car Line & within a few minutes reach most of the historic sites in downtown San Antonio. You will be provided a brochure displaying Via’s five Street Car routes & the locations of all the major downtown sites. If you take the Highlights of San Antonio Tour, you will be provided a trolley pass good for two days that will enable you to use that line to reach most of the historic sites.  The Menger Hotel sits in the middle of San Antonio’s interesting sites.

7. Friday, 4/29/11. Riverwalk. Not listed as a separate activity is Riverwalk, a river with paths on both sides that flows twenty feet below street level through the middle of historic San Antonio. The walk is one of the most popular places in town as it is lined with specialty shops & alfresco cafes. Barges cruise the river at frequent intervals. One of the entrances to River Walk is only a block & a half from the Menger. On Friday afternoon & Saturday afternoon, at frequent intervals, the Registration team will lead groups over to the entrance to Riverwalk. No advance signups. Additionally, you may do Riverwalk on your own as part of a self-tour.

8. Friday, 4/29/11. Cocktails & Buffet Dinner at the Historic Buckhorn Saloon & Museum. At about 6:15pm, shuttle busses begin departing the Menger for the Buckhorn for a fabulous western barbecue featuring both Slow Smoked BBQ Beef Brisket & Mesquite Grilled Chicken Breast. Seating will be initial Army branch & Air Force basic pilot training base. Cash Bar. Shuttle buses will begin returning to the Menger at about 9:15pm & continue until 10pm.

9. Saturday, 4/30/11. Breakfast. A complimentary continental breakfast will be provided in the Menger Ballroom beginning at 6am. It is part of the registration fee. For those who prefer a more substantial breakfast, the Menger Dining room opens at 6:30am & offers a full breakfast.

10. Saturday, 4/30/11. Memorial Service at the Alamo. At about 7:40am, we will ask classmates to begin moving to the Alamo Memorial Building for the Memorial Service which begins at 8am. The service concludes at 8:45am. Inside the Alamo Memorial Building, we have 125 chairs for those who may it difficult to stand for 45-50 minutes. The remaining 200 will stand. After the service, you will be offered an opportunity to tour the Alamo. Alamo tours usually take about an hour.

11. Saturday, 4/30/11. Alamo Film. A Miramax film about the stand at the Alamo begins across the street from the Alamo at 10am & repeats hourly. This film was made for the Alamo & is not the John Wayne movie.

12. Saturday, 4/30/11. Tour of San Antonio Museums. This tour includes extended stops at the McNay Museum of Art, & the San Antonio Museum of Art. The McNay features works by famous artists such as Picasso, Matisse, O’Keefe, & Cezanne. It is housed in the home of a late oil heiress who left her art collection, home & endowment for the advancement & enjoyment of modern art. The collection numbers more than 13,000 prints, drawings & sculptures & is considered among the finest in the Southwest. The expansive San Antonio Museum of Art is housed in the buildings of the former Lone Star Brewery & maintains its factory feel with sky walks & glass elevators.  Collections include Egyptian, Greek & Roman antiquities, Asian Art & 18^th, 19^th & 20^th century American work. Recently, the museum opened the three story of Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art, considered on of the nation’s best collections of Latin art. The tour also includes a stop at the beautiful Japanese Sunken Gardens.

13. Saturday, 4/30/11. Self-Tours. This is the opportunity to use either the Trolley Hopper pass issued with the Highlights of San Antonio tour or the Via Streetcar System & travel to specific parts of historic San Antonio you would like to visit. Easy to do. Both systems stop at the Menger Hotel on a frequent basis.  This could also be a good time to take the standard San Antonio Riverwalk cruise (about 50 minutes) or take a River Taxi to the new San Antonio River extension through the locks to the San Antonio Art Museum (the taxi ticket is good for 24 hours use on the river).

14. Saturday Evening, 4/30/11. Cocktails & sit-down dinner at the Menger Hotel Ballroom. Cocktails begin at 6:30pm & dinner begins at 7:30pm. Registration form offers a choice of 6 ounce Filet Mignon or Veal with Crab cake entrées.

15. Sunday, 5/1/11. Menger Hotel Dining Room opens for breakfast at 6:30am. Breakfast & departures on your own schedule.

The Historic Chester W. Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg will be one of the sites visited by those who arrive a day early to tour Fredericksburg.

On Friday, April 29^th, 2011, Air Force Classmates will be guests of honor at a graduation review at Lackland AFB. Our classmate, MG(Ret) Jay Edwards, will receive the review.

Friday night’s dinner will begin with cocktails in the saloon part of the Buckhorn Museum and Saloon, San Antonio’s oldest saloon.