Page 9 - DFCS News Magazine Winter 2011

W e’re counting down the months, soon to be weeks, then the days before the 2012 Distinguished Flying Cross Society Convention
will be upon us! As you may have read in the previous DFC Magazine, the convention will be held at the Seattle Airport Marriott located across International Boulevard from the Seattle Tacoma Airport, August 19 -23, 2012! The Marriott has free shuttle service and the trip to the hotel should only be a 5 – 10 minute ride. You can check out the hotel by going to http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/seawa-seattle-airport- marriott/.
Call the Seattle Airport Mar- riott at 206-241-2000 or toll free at 1-800-314-0925, no later than July 27, 2012 to make your room reservations. When you make reservations make sure you tell them that you are with the DFC Society so you can enjoy our $117.00 per night rate. If you are driving to the hotel,
overnight parking rate is $9.00 and your car will be secure inside a gated parking lot. The Hotel also has a free shuttle to the light rail system (about 2 blocks away) and there is also a free shuttle to the Westfield South Center Mall, the largest shopping mall in the Pacific Northwest.
The theme for the 2012 Convention will be to honor our World War II Distinguished Flying Cross recipients and at press time we were still working out some of the details but here is what we have planned. The registration desk will open at 2:00 pm Pacific Time on Sunday, August 19th. When you sign in at the registration desk, you’ll be given a welcome package with Name Badge, Itinerary, List of Attendees, your DFC Jackets (if ordered) and Local Information. Adjacent to the registration desk will be the hospitality suite where you can get a libation, fight off jet lag or just sit down and take it easy! There are no official events planned for the remainder of Sunday.
Monday starts off with a general membership meeting at 8:00 am that is scheduled to last one hour. After that we have a couple of optional tours. One of the tours is to Tillicum Village on Blake Island in Puget Sound. Before we board the boat to the Village you will have time to stroll through the Historic Pike Place Market where you can watch the fish mongers throw fish! After a brief visit we’ll board an Argosy cruise for a trip to Blake Island. After your arrival at the Island, you'll make your way up a path strewn with clam shells bleached by the sun, and enjoy an appetizer of clams and other Pacific Northwest delicacies. Then watch whole salmon being cooked on cedar stakes over an alder-wood fire in the traditional Northwest Coast Indian Style and then sit down to the feast. As you finish your meal, the lights dim while the myth and magic come to life in a spellbinding performance highlighting the customs, beliefs and dances of the Northwest Coast Salish Indians. After the show, you'll have free time to stroll the grounds and gift shop area before returning to the Marriott Hotel.
The other Monday optional tour will also start at the famous Pike Place Market which is the oldest continuously working public market in the country. Locals shop here for fresh vegetables, seafood, and meat. The market also has numerous shops to include wines, pastries, crafts and flowers. One thing great about the Market is the number of ethnic res- taurants, as well as local cuisine. Pikes Place Market is also home to the first Starbucks coffee “stand” where the mermaid is rated PG! Grab lunch between discoveries and get ready for the cruise! Following our time at Pike Place we’ll go on a two and a half hour Argosy Cruise that will take us from the Puget Sound, through the locks in Ballard and into Lake Union, the “Sleepless in Seattle” locale! Then it is back to the Hotel for a buffet dinner in the Marriott’s pool side Atrium.
Tuesday’s tour is included in the registra on fee and is one not to be missed. We’ll travel from SeaTac up to Evere , Washington and Paine Field, the home of Boeing’s Wide Body Assembly Plant. This facility, the largest manufacturing building in the world is where the Boeing
747, 767, 777 and the newest Boeing commercial airplane, the 787 Dreamliner are being built. We will be given a VIP tour of the facility and will be able to watch the construc on of the latest and greatest that Boeing has to o er. A er a picnic lunch we will then go to Paul Allen’s (of Microso fame) Flying Heritage Museum for a tour of his collec on of rare military aircra (one of which is a Me-262) with examples from Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States . In the late '90s, Paul Allen began acquiring and pre- serving vintage aircra , many of which are the last of their kind. Allen's passion for avia on and history, and his awareness of the increasing rarity of original WWII aircra , mo vated him to restore these ar facts to the high-
est standard of authen ci-
ty and share them with
the public. Unlike most
other collec ons dis-
played in a sta c museum
environment, many of the
historic aircra have been
restored to ying condi-
on. Following the Flying
Heritage Museum tour
we’ll board the buses and RTB to the Hotel.
In the hospitality room you’ll nd a silent auc on has been set up and all are encouraged to par cipate in this fund raising event. The silent auc on will be closed and group will transi on to the banquet room for a Paci c Northwest Bu et of local fare. To con nue the theme, we’ll announce the winners of the silent auc on and re up a live auc on of some highly regarded items that you just can’t a ord to live without!! We’ll also announce the winner of the “Early Bird Registra on” – Check out the Early Bird Registra on details at the end of this ar cle!!
Wednesday’s op onal tour #1 is a trip to the Sea le Waterfront! Sea le’s water front is a span of parks, piers, ferry and ship termi- nals, promenades and public spaces, stretching from Pioneer Square on the south to Shilshole Marina on the north. Highlights along the waterfront include Sea le Aquarium, Myrtle Edwards Park, Sea le Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park, cruise ship docks, the Wash- ington State Ferry Terminal, numerous arcades, shops, and restau- rants. Once you’ve had enough of the water front we’ll move on to Sea le’s Space Needle, built for the 1962 World’s Fair! Bring your camera to record the views of the city, Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, and the Olympic Mountains from the 600 foot high observa on deck.
The second op on for Wednesday will be a tour of Joint Base Lewis McChord, formerly known as McChord AFB and Fort Lewis! We’ll visit McChord rst and get a tour of the ight line, a quick stop at the Base Museum Sta c Displays and a tour of the C-17 Globemaster III. Lunch at the O cer’s club and then it’s o to Fort Lewis where we will tour the ight line
and be able to “inspect” the latest US Army assets, both ground and avia on. Then it’s back to the hotel to get ready for the grand nale, dinner at the Muse- um of Flight at Boeing Field.
The dinner on Wednesday evening will be the culmi-
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Page 9 The Distinguished Flying Cross News