Golden Gate Fly-In
San Francisco, August 22 - 24, 2003

Three fun filled perfect weather days with great fellowship for ages 8 to 80(?).  Attended by members, families and friends from California, Arizona, Louisiana and Washington.   A great event organized by Sam & Elena Bishop. 

Pictures:

Mystery Welcome Dinner at Stinking Rose.

Mystery Theater at "Beach Blanket Babylon" (witty, wacky and totally irreverent).

San Francisco Bay Cruise to Alameda

U.S.S. Hornet tour

Chinatown Dinner

Aerial Pictures

Participants:

Here is a report from Geoff and Vicki White:

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Flying Rotarians and their guests were treated to three perfect days of weather for the Golden Gate Fly-in. The group arrived at the Oakland airport at various times on Friday, then gathered in the wine bar of the Villa Florence Hotel at 1800 to renew friendships and meet new people. At 1900 we were off to a mystery dinner followed by a mystery event.

First mystery stop, “The Stinking Rose”, named for their specialty, garlic. Lots of garlic. Appetizer and dinner selections were varied and delicious! Following dinner a short walk took us to Club Fugazi to see “Beach Blanket Babylon”, the longest running hit musical revue in theatre history. We enjoyed an hour and a half of side-splitting wacky, irreverent humor spoofing everything from Snow White to “Arnold for Governor.” On leaving the theatre, the balmy night spurred several people to walk back to the hotel, several others caught the last cable car before they stopped running at midnight.

Saturday morning we made our individual ways to Pier 41 or the San Francisco Ferry terminal to pick up the 11:35 ferry to Alameda. Normally a chilly trip, jackets were unnecessary and we practically had the ferry to ourselves. From the ferry slip in Alameda a short bus ride took us to the USS Hornet. The afternoon began with a detailed two-hour guided tour of the lower decks of the carrier including the engine room, various berthing areas, torpedo section, medical facilities, mess facilities and the hangar deck. Following the tour we explored on our own with trips to the island structure’s primary flight control deck and navigation areas and around the flight deck. Our day was a rare “Living Ship and Flashlight Tour” with demonstrations of the ship’s aircraft elevator and aircraft movement. At 1630 we boarded shuttle vans to return to the hotel for a few moments rest before we headed out to dinner at The Great Eastern Restaurant in Chinatown. Shirley and Peter More coordinated a delicious eight course menu with varied selections for each of the three tables. Our group was joined by George and Carol Chaffey and their Rotary exchange student, Elena Shustrova, who had arrived from St. Petersburg, Russia, only three days before. Over the next three hours we enjoyed wonderful food and great conversation. A leisurely walk back to the hotel was definitely in order after dinner.

Sunday morning we gathered in Kuleto’s Restaurant in the hotel for brunch, a chance to re-live the fun of the previous days and to say goodbye until the next time.

Special thanks go to Sam and Elena Bishop for planning the weekend so well. The hotel was ideally situated in downtown San Francisco within comfortable walking distance to all our venues and with easy access to the cable cars and BART.

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Email me your pictures and we'll share them: peter@petermore.com
Event announcement and registration form listing details [click here]