2012 Reunion

NOW HEAR THIS!!!  Please read the new info below!

(Updated 2 December 2011 — new info marked with **)

Location

Newport, Rhode Island is the site of our 2012 USS KIRK Association Reunion.  And it is a fitting venue for a reunion of old sailors like us, since the U. S. Navy has been a major part of Newport for hundreds of years.  www.gonewport.com is the official website of the Newport Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Dates

The “official” dates are Friday, October 19th to Tuesday, October 23, 2012.  We use the word “official” because we have arranged with the hotel people to offer the same special KIRK room rates on the three days preceding, and three days following the “official” reunion, so that any of our shipmates who would like to spend more time in this beautiful city (at this beautiful time of the year) can arrive early and leave late, if they so desire.  We are still discussing room rates, the site of the hospitality room, and other such details, but we are confident that we will get the best possible deal for our shipmates, so please continue to stand by, and check this site often!

Getting there

By air:  The most convenient airport is T. F. Green (KPVD) just south of Providence, in Warwick, RI, just 35-45 minutes from Newport (depending on time of day and traffic.)  T. F. Green is served by Southwest, USAir, and many other airlines.  Boston’s Logan Airport is about an hour and a half away from Newport, by car.

By Car:  With GPS and MapQuest, the routes are fairly straightforward:

– From the south and west, the most direct route is through Connecticut via Interstate I-95 (North).  Exiting I-95 at Exit 3A will give you a 45 minute ride through beautiful rural Rhode Island, past the University of Rhode Island on RI-138, then across the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge and the Newport (Pell) Bridge into the City of Newport.  You will save about 10 minutes by remining on I-95 until Exit 5, but there is not much to see on that route.  If you have the time, Exit 3A is the most interesting route.

– From the North, take I-95 (South) around Boston, then briefly on to I-93, then to MA-24 (South) through Fall River, MA, crossing into Rhode Island, then RI-138 (South) to Newport.  (If you fly in to Logan Airport in Boston and rent a car, go south on I-93 and take MA-24 (South), as above.)

By Sea (yes, by sea!):   For you old sailors who need another shot of salt spray, consider driving east through Long Island (New York) along the north shore to Port Jefferson, or further out to Orient Point and taking either the Cross Sound Ferry (Orient Point) directly to New London, CT (on I-95), or the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry to Bridgeport, CT (also on I-95), then driving on to Newport.  You will have to check the ferry schedules for times of crossing and fares (www.longislandferry.com and www.bpjferry.com) and keep a close eye on the weather, but if you have the time, the voyage is well worth it, either coming or going.

By Train:  AMTRAK serves Rhode Island on their “northeast corridor” with stops in West Kingston, RI (KIN), and Providence (PVD).  There are a number of ways to get to Newport from either station (about 45 minutes travel,) so if you are planning to arrive by AMTRAK, please drop me an email at hdoyle2439@aol.com and I’ll help you with the arrangements.  AMTRAK schedules and fares can be found at www.amtrak.com.

Weather

ABSOLUTELY no guarantees, but the latter half of October is usually a spectacular time of year in Newport.  For planning purposes, here is the weather history for the same dates for this year (date/high/low/precipitation):

October 19, 2011: 64/59/00; October 20, 2011: 68/60/00; October 21, 2011: 62/56/00; October 22, 2011: 59/51/00; October 23, 2011: 57/48/00

Not only is the weather normally fine, but October in New England is prime “Fall Foliage” viewing time (that’s why the rural route through RI-138, off I-95, Exit 3A is highly recommended if you are driving to the reunion.)  But caution, although October this year was sunny and dry during the corresponding dates, be sure to bring your rain gear, too.  New England weather is notoriously unpredictable!

Accommodations

I am working with the Marketing/Sales director of The Atlantic Beach Hospitality group, a family-owned group of 6 hotels and 5 restaurants that has a great reputation in Newport for being a military-friendly operation.  I have dealt with them many times in the past and I have always been pleased with their service (as examples, I hosted my son’s wedding rehearsal dinner at one of their restaurants, and it was great in all respects; and I have used the same hotel we hope to use as our HQ hotel to “house” visiting friends and family, and they were completely pleased with the experience.)  I’m sure all our shipmates will be equally pleased.  Our plan is to select one hotel as our KIRK “headquarters” hotel (with an appropriate “hospitality suite”), but to have special KIRK room rates in some of their other hotels as well (and all their hotels are within ten minutes of each other.)  Still working, more to follow – so please continue to stand by.

Food

–  The Banquet:  We will have our traditional banquet in one of the more scenic restaurants in Newport, in a large upstairs dining room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  I met with the restaurant manager and “locked in” our reservation for Monday evening, October 22, 2012.  We still need to decide on the details of the menu, seating, and the schedule for the evening, but the detailed banquet planning will occur much further down the road.  So please stand by.

–  Restaurants:  Newport is famous for its wide variety of eating establishments throughout the city and the surrounding area.  Describing them all here would be a daunting task, but the following websites are well worth reviewing:  www.newport.patch.com/restaurants – www.newport-ri-views.com/dining/dining_in_newport.htm – www.localguides.com/RI_Yellow_Pages

Still working, more to follow — stand by.

** Sightseeing

Newport and the surrounding Southeastern New England region abound with historic, architectural, and geographic attractions to please even the most avid sightseer.  Whether you walk, drive, float, or fly, you’ll find something to your liking in Southeastern New England!

–  Walking tours:  The City of Newport has played a vital role in the history of our country since the mid-1600s.  There are numerous walking tours – both guided and self-guided – covering a wide assortment of subjects:  historic waterfront tours (including the International Yacht Restoration School — www.iyrs.org);  private garden tours;  colonial-era neighborhood tours;  “ghost” tours (Newport’s “spooky” side (www.ghostsofnewport.com));  nature walks of every complexity, from leisurely strolling to energetic climbing (including the rocky shores of the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge and the wind-driven Brenton Point State Park;  the forests and fields of the Norman Bird Sanctuary (www.normanbirdsanctuary.org);  the sedate, but stunning Blithewold Mansion and Gardens in nearby Bristol, RI (www.blithewold.org);  the famed Newport “Cliff Walk”;  and four incomparable Atlantic Ocean beaches);  and of course, the ultimate “self-guided” tour, a “pub crawl” of the fabled Thames Street, and the innumerable inns, taverns, pubs and bars that played host to so many U. S. Navy Bluejackets throughout the years when Newport was the quintessential “Navy Town.”  So, if walking is “your thing,” you’ll love this beautiful area at this perfect time of the year!

– Mansion tours (a combination of walking and driving):  Newport is world-famous for its many “cottages” of the pre-income tax, “Golden Age” families who escaped New York during the heat of the summer and decamped to a cooler Newport, the ”City by the Sea.”  These incredible, opulent mansions, lining the beautiful Bellevue Avenue, were  once owned by families such as the Astors and the Vanderbilts, and are now mostly owned and operated by the Preservation Society of Newport County.  These stunning “homes” are open for tours year-round.  PLEASE take some time to visit their website (www.newportmansions.org) to appreciate the full scope of the premier tourist attraction in Newport — her mansions.

– Driving:  The 10-mile Ocean Drive winds along the rocky coast of Brenton Point, at the mouth of Narragansett Bay, where the bay opens out to the Atlantic Ocean.  The ocean scenes are spectacular, particularly the sunsets.  Interspersed among the incredible nature scenes on Ocean Drive are many impressive old mansions with expansive, immaculate grounds.  For those of us interested in viewing the famous New England “Fall foliage” there are a number of mapped-out driving tours, ranging from as short as one hour, to literally all day.  And for the “Lighthouse Aficionado,” Narragansett Bay has numerous historic lighthouses — both operational and restored as museums – some accessible by car, and many others by boat (see below).

– By boat:  Rhode Island is aptly called “The Ocean State,” and one look at a map of the state will leave no doubt of that!  Coastline tours, lighthouse tours, and island tours are all available through regularly scheduled boat tours (www.rhodeislandbaycruises,com), and there are a number of independent sailboat, schooner, motor yacht, and power boat tours of Narragansett Bay and Newport Harbor (www.sail-newport.com, www.cruisenewport.com, www.bayqueen.com, www.conanicutmarina.com, www.newportmajesticcruises.com, www.sightsailing.com, and others.)  And it’s all salt water!

By air:  The best way to see ALL of Newport at one time is by air, and in this case, I can “work a deal” for our KIRK shipmates who long for the days of “Flight Quarters” and the comings and goings of our LAMPS helicopter.  My good friend Jeff and his wife Kris are the owners and operators (Jeff is Chief Pilot) of “Bird’s Eye View Helicopters,” operating out of Newport State Airport (KUUU), flying a beautiful red Robinson R-44 helicopter.  Jeff offers the Mansion Tour, the Exclusive Island Tour, the Lighthouse Tour, and the Bay Tour.  See Jeff’s website www.birdseyeviewhelicopters.com for tour details and rates, but remember, “I can get it for you wholesale!”

** Sports

– Golf:  October is a wonderful time of the year for golf in New England, and there are three excellent 18-hole public-access courses within minutes of each other on Aquidneck Island:  Green Valley Country Club (www.greenvalleyccofri.com), Newport National Golf Club (www.newportnational.com), and Montaup Country Club (www.montaupcc.com).

– Casinos:  The largest single casino in the world (Foxwoods Resort Casino — www.foxwoods.com) is located just over an hour’s drive away in eastern Connecticut, as is its major competitor, Mohegan Sun (www.mohegansun.com).  Right here in Newport is Newport Grand (www.newportgrand.com – video slots and off-track-betting), and just 45 minutes away is Twin River Casino (www.twinriver.com)

Still working, more to follow — stand by.

Military Attractions:

–  United States Naval War College Museum, located on the Naval Station, Newport, will interest history buffs.  The Naval War College was founded in the late-1880s by Alfred Thayer Mahan, and during the 1920s was the site where “War Plan Orange” — the war plan that eventually defeated the Japanese in WW-II — was developed and “war gamed.” www.usnwc/museum 

–  Battleship Cove, in nearby Fall River, MA, is the home port for the largest collection of memorial warships in the United States.  Featured are the  battleship USS MASSACHUSETTS (BB-59), the destroyer USS JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, JR. (DD-850), the submarine USS LIONFISH (SS-298), the 1980s-vintage Soviet-built, East German missile corvette HIDDENZEE, and the National PT Boat Museum, featuring two WW-II PT boats.  Battleship Cove is also the site of the official Vietnam Memorial for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. www.battleshipcove.com

– USS CONSTITUTION is the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy, constructed in the late-18th century, and famed for her role in the War of 1812.  Manned by an active USN crew, she is berthed at the former Boston Navy Yard (now the Boston National Historical Park), and is open to public tours.  Across the pier from the venerable “Old Ironsides” is USS CASSIN YOUNG (DD-793), the battle hardened veteran of WW-II in the Pacific.  A kamikaze survivor off Okinawa, CASSIN YOUNG is now maintained by the National Park Service, and is also open for public tours.  www.history.navy.mil/ussconstitution/  Boston is a comfortable “day trip” from Newport.

Still working, more to follow — stand by.

Registration

Still working, more to follow — stand by.