NVAO Members,
The 2024 NVAR Reunion is shaping up to be a great time in Colorado Springs, CO.
Saturday, August 31: Sandy Kintzele has blocked 20 rooms at the Holiday Inn Colorado Springs Airport, 1855 Aeroplaza Dr., Colorado Springs, 80916, (719-380-8526). It has a swimming pool, fitness center, restaurant, bar, free breakfast, shuttle from airport, free parking, etc. The rooms are blocked for Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1. The official check-in time is 3pm but you can probably get in earlier. The price is $129 plus tax per night, but you must use the code: NVAO. If you want to book online, you can use this link: NVAO Booking Link. It looks to me like if you only want to book a room for one night, you may have to call and do the reservation over the phone. The hotel will hold the block of rooms at that price until August 1 at which time any rooms left will be released to the public.
We will try to have a short Board Meeting at 4:30pm on Saturday in the restaurant/bar area (the hotel wanted $150 for the rental of a conference room. Ha ha…no thank you). The meeting will be open to everyone.
Where and when you have dinner on Saturday night is up to you. Since the hotel has a restaurant, some of us who are creatures of habit will have dinner at the hotel restaurant at 6:30pm. After dinner, Headdog is thinking about buying one cheap drink for each person who shows up at the bar. Couples will get one drink and two straws.
The main day for group activities will be Sunday, September 1.
9:30am: We will meet at Dragonman’s Military Museum at 9:30am and buy our tickets for a tour of the museum. This is an extraordinary, private collection that rivals any other military museum in the United States (and probably the world). The museum is at 1200 Dragonman Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80920 (719-683-2200). That’s 13.5 miles/19 minutes from the hotel. The price of admission is $20 per person, payable at the door (Ticket purchase must be in cash. No credit cards accepted.).
10:00am – 12:00 noon: We will have a guided tour of the museum. We have been told that the tour will last about two hours.
1:00pm – 2:00pm: Lunch at The Airplane Restaurant, 1665 Newport Road, Colorado Springs, CO, (719-570-7656). This restaurant is about 20 minutes from Dragonman’s Museum and features great food and a ton of cool, aviation memorabilia and history. We will block off seating for the group. Separate checks will be requested for the lunch.
2:00 – 4:30: Free time, dip in the pool, read a book, take a nap. The distance from The Airplane Restaurant to the hotel is 1 mile, about 4 minutes.
4:30 Depart hotel for the Flying W Ranch, 3330 Chuckwagon Road, Colorado Springs, CO. (719-598-4000). This is about 30 minutes from the hotel. The Flying W Ranch is a working ranch in the foothills on the far west side of Colorado Springs. The gates open at 5:00pm and before dinner there are a number of fun activities to do before we eat, for example, view/hike around the Red Rock formations, watch the Sweetwater Plains Dancers and the Navajo Rug weavers, participatory axe throwing, archery, hugging various ranch animals.
Each person must make their own reservation online for dinner. (Go to flyingw.com, click on Chuckwagon Supper Shows, Click on Buy Supper Show Tickets, Scroll Down to Sunday, September 1, Click “Select” and buy the appropriate number of tickets that you’d like. In the Comments box, type NVAR Group so the ticket people at the ranch will know to seat us together.) When we arrive, Jerry will go to the ticket counter and pick up all the tickets for our group. Each of you will have already paid for the dinner/show.
6:30pm: a chuck wagon dinner will be served. The menu choices are Smoked Brisket, Berbere Chicken, Smoked Hatch Green Chile Sausage. There is also a vegetarian menu.
7:30pm: a western musical stage show will be presented. Good music and lots of laughs.
8:30pm: The show is over and we’ll head to the hotel.
If you are going to join us in Colorado Springs, please respond to this email so we have an idea of how many people to plan for.
We look forward to seeing you
If you have any questions, please contact either Steve or Jerry.
Also, we have an updated NVAO Members Spreadsheet. (Contact Jerry for a copy of this Spreadsheet)
The NVAO Board of Directors
