2017 UBANGI REUNION
The 9th Bi-Annual Reunion of the VA-12 Flying Ubangis was held in Portland Oregon in July 2017. Our base of operations was the Red Lion Hotel at Jantzen Beach. This hotel sits on the Columbia River in North Portland. The activities officially commenced at 5 PM on Thursday July 20 and continued until Sunday evening July 23.
Attendees arrived at staggered times as early as Monday July 17 all the way through Thursday afternoon. Most of the attendees flew in to the airport and obtained rides to the hotel, or rented a car. One couple were on a long RV trip across the country and stayed in a nearby RV park.
On Tuesday, early arrival Ed Thomas and the local VA-12 Man-On-The-Ground John Larch met at the Red Lion and took off for a day-trip to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.
On Wednesday, Ed and more early arrivals Joe & Kathy Kyle and RVers Terry & Joan Nies braved what turned out to be heavy and slow Portland freeway traffic to venture South to John L’s house near Salem for a dinner party.
Thursday July 20
Hospitality Room Greetings at Red Lion Jantzen Beach, Overton Room. 5 PM.
We had use of a meeting room in one wing of the hotel as our “Hospitality Suite”
and spent parts of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoon catching up on all
the latest news. Friday July 21
Friday, we began the day by meeting up at the hotel lobby
and packing ourselves into 3 vehicles for a trip to McMinnville Oregon. This was
made possible mostly by George Hartlein, who offered the use of his 15-passenger
van, which 12-14 people boarded. McMinnville is approximately 45 miles
from our Red Lion Hotel. About a third of this trip was on freeways and through
busy urban and suburban areas and the traffic was very heavy and slow,
especially on the freeway. The remainder was through Oregon wine country and
agricultural zones in the Northern Willamette Valley. We made it! The
Evergreen Aviation Museum houses a large collection of civilian, military, and
space craft in an aviation museum building, a space museum building, and an IMax
movie theatre. This includes the Spruce Goose aircraft built for Howard Hughes.
Most of the Ubangis present went on a tour offered by staff at the Aviation
Museum.After attending an IMax movie, we toured the Space Museum. At one point
or another, most everyone stopped at the cafe inside the Aviation Museum and had
a bite of lunch.
SaturdayJuly 22
Saturday was a day packed with adventure. The MOG had hired a bus to ferry us
around on a trip that was originally going to be about 75 miles out. Visiting
popular attractions, with known terrible parking problems - especially on a nice
Summer Saturday! All this was cured by hiring the bus and letting the driver
worry about getting us all there without one car load of Ubangis or another
getting lost.
(The MOG very nearly
did the same thing for the Friday outing…)
Our adventure - drive into the Columbia River Gorge and enjoy some spectacular
sights and natural wonders!
First Stop: Vista House at Crown Point. Crown Point is an area in the western
end of the 80 mile long Gorge where most will take the first notice of the
nature of the Gorge - a deep and wide river channel cut into the rocky terrain.
Vista House is a viewpoint cut into a giant rock where one can look East into
the Gorge.
It was a lovely day and the view was quite spectacular. The MOG was telling
some of the Ubangis that this view is of the start of the Gorge, and that it
goes on for roughly 80 miles.
We spent a little over an hour there, and then departed for our second
destination.
We left Vista House and after a slow, scenic drive through heavy traffic on a
narrow, scenic highway built in the 1920’s and 1930’s, we arrived at Multnomah
Falls about 11:30.
This is the highest waterfall in Oregon and a major tourist magnet. The water
feeding Multnomah
Falls (and 10-12
other waterfalls in the same general area) comes from creeks and streams that
originate in the foothills of Mt. Hood. We departed the bus and agreed to meet
back at the entrance at 1:30 PM. We wandered around the grounds, the Lodge,
viewpoints for the two different Falls, and the pools at the base of each.
There is an extensive network of hiking trails which begin at the top of the
Falls and wander off into the mountainous region there, and a main trail from
the Lodge goes up to this trail-start area. Part of the way up this main trail
is a bridge over a rock formation near the base of the tallest waterfall. Some
of the Ubangi clan, with joints feeling fit enough for the climb, took the
opportunity and hiked up the main trail to the bridge for the spectacular view
of the main waterfall.
One of the group (Gerry Sunada) went past the bridge, all the way to the top and
the trail-start area, and some of the pics show the view he had from up there.
We gathered back at the bus and left Multnomah Falls for lunch at a restaurant
in the nearby town of Cascade Locks. The view from this restaurant is pure
Columbia River Gorge and amazing in it’s own way.
The MOTD decided that the last venue of the day was too far out to allow us to
return in time for our banquet, so changed the plans and we returned westbound,
to stop at the Bonneville Dam. This is one of many hydroelectric power
generating dams on the Columbia River, and produces about 1,200 megawatts of
electricity.
We spent roughly 90 minutes at the Visitor Center viewing the displays, fish
ladders, and media presentations available.
We reassembled and rode the bus back to the Red Lion.
Saturday Evening Banquet
After a long day of sightseeing, we eventually reassembled around 7 PM in one of
the hotel meeting/banquet rooms. We enjoyed the additional company of some new
folks who had not been on the bus traveling with us during the day - Nestor
Rodriquez and his wife, and Rich Fifer.
We enjoyed a nice meal with salad course, main dinner course, and a dessert.
There was an open pay-as-you-go bar.
After dinner, Joe Kyle said a few words. Then we continued a recent tradition
and ceremony to announce the names of VA-12 squadron mates we are aware of who
have passed away since the last Reunion. Terry Nies read the names aloud and
Gary Venema rang our ceremonial bell. And we conducted an on-site vote to
establish two contenders for the site of the next Reunion, possibly in 2019.
Amongst nominated sites made while visiting in our Hospitality Room, the two
finalists are Myrtle Creek SC, and a 7-Day Cruise from Port Canaveral FL.
Sunday July 23
About 9:45 AM, we drove our cars from the Red Lion to a nearby stop on the
nearest Light Rail line, Delta Park. There was plenty of parking, which
surprised the MOTG. We all bought Senior All-Day Light Rail passes for $2.50
from a ticket machine and eventually boarded a train for a 25 minute ride to a
stop in Downtown Portland at Pioneer Square.
We found a kiosk for the Big Pink Trolley Line Tours and bought tickets for $29
for the ride. We were early for a 12 Noon departure by roughly 45 minutes, and
so wandered away and found the loading area for the trolley tours, a half block
away in front of the Nordstrom’s store at Pioneer Square.
The Trolley Tour spent roughly 1 hour 45 minutes taking us on a 14-stop tour of
sights and places of note in and around Downtown Portland. The driver added
narration, information, and jokes along the way.
The MOG had already arranged at the end of the Big Pink Trolley Tour, for the
driver to drop our group of 14 off very near to a dock on the Willamette River
where our next adventure was to begin.
We got to the vicinity of the riverfront where the cruise vessel dock is
situated, about an hour before the vessel PORTLAND SPIRIT was to depart for a 3
PM cruise. So some of the Ubangi group walked up the street and found several
cafes and other possibilities for lunch. Some of us just engaged in people
watching near the dock as we tried to find some shade on a warm Summer day.
The vessel eventually began to board passengers who were being photographed
while boarding individually or in couples or small groups. We got a group
picture of the VA-12 gang.
The vessel departed from the dock and proceeded south on the Willamette River at
a leisurely pace. Some of the Ubangis went to upper decks, others with sore
knees stayed on the first deck, which was most accessible. We had a great view
of the river’s edge sights including high-rise condos, stately homes, a
submarine museum, golf courses, bridges and freeways, and regular neighborhoods.
Every so often, the Captain would use the PA system and pass along remarks about
the sights and views along the river.
After about an hour, the vessel made a complete 180° turn and went back north.
For more pictures of the activities
Click here