Annual Picnic

USS VIRGINIA BASE ANNUAL PICNIC

**UPDATE ALERT**

MEMBER AL PTASZNIK ANNOUNCED AT OUR JULY 13TH MEETING THAT HE AND HIS WIFE, MARY ANN, WILL HOST OUR TWENTYTH ANNUAL SUB VET PICNIC AT THEIR HOME ON OCTOBER 12th, 2024 (The Second Saturday in October).

THIS PICNIC WILL CONSTITUTE OUR OCTOBER MEETING.

WHAT?	USSVB Annual Family Picnic
WHERE?	Al & Mary Ann Ptasznik's Home
ADDRESS?	6721 Lake Pointe Drive Mineral, VA 23117-5007
WHEN?	Saturday October 12, 2024
WHAT TIME?	Setup teams arrive around 11:00am Food between 11:30am-Noon Members & guests arrive around Noon
Additional information	If you plan on attending it is requested that you bring the following: 1-Your own drinks. (Coffee and unsweetened ice tea will be provided by Al and the base.) 2-Bring a desert that you can share. 3-Bring lawn chairs to use as there is limited seating. 4-Because there is NO shade in Al’s yard if you have a portable canopy please bring. 5-The base will provide the BBQ, Brisket and sides along with utensils, plates and napkins.
THEN WHAT?	Dive the boat at Between 12:15 and 12:30pm for the submariner invocation and to begin eating
MEETING?	YES - An abbreviated meeting will be held AFTER we eat to include our usual tolling lost boats honor ceremonies, 50/50 raffle draw, announcements & benediction
THEN WHAT?	SURFACE THE BOAT!!
DIRECTIONS Click on the "Directions" link in the map address box below. Type in the address you are departing from in the "Choose Starting Point" field on the page that comes up. This will build a custom map for you which includes driving instructions.

PARKING

There is some parking out front along the drive in a perpendicular fashion, then more along the road. See the red mark-ups on the aerial map below. Al or a volunteer can help by running the golf cart around to assist people in carrying things down back.

Aerial view of the Ptasznik home with red marks showing parking areas

MENU, UTENSILS & SEATING

(This page was updated on September 10, 2022)

This web page is adjusted from year to year, but is kept basically for use as a template of sorts to cover past and future picnics without rebuilding the whole thing. The specifics in this section may or may not change from year to year, but can be used as a general reference.

NOTE: *** The Base purchased the BBQ and sides. Mission BBQ delivered the BBQ and sides to Al's house from the Fredericksburg store.

Be sure to visit a Mission BBQ near you and thank them for their support of USSVI USS Virginia Base! Click here to visit the main Mission BBQ web site to review their menu and look up their locations nearest to you.

2018 PINIC ATTENDEES

2017 PICNIC ATTENDEES

1. Mission BBQ donated the following in 2018 (and hopefully will do the same for 2019):

(Kenn & Della will pick up the food from Mission BBQ and should arrive at Al's house by 12:30pm).

Pulled Pork Barbecue
Pulled Chicken Barbecue
Texas-Style Brisket
Coleslaw
Baked Beans
Macaroni and Cheese
Slider Rolls
BBQ Sauce
Tea
Lemonade
Plates
Cutlery
Serving Spoons & Tongs

NOTE: Mission BBQ does not provide deserts, but members and guests usually provide a sufficent number of appetizers, deserts and drinks to round out our menu.

NOTE: The food from Mission BBQ will not be in insulated containers. However, it will be in oven safe pans and kept warm by the way they wrap the pans with tin foil and then place the pans into cardboard boxes, so it should still be warm by the time we eat at 12:30pm.

2. Kenn & Della McDermott had picked up a large quantity of items from Sam's Club for the 2014 picnic and restocked a few supplies for the 2017 picnic as requested by Al based on their inventory (which is indicated below in parenthesis) - although for 2017 the Mission BBQ's donation included cutlery and plates so at least some items did not require updating.

Large Paper Plates (Al has 80 left, plus Mission BBQ is supplying plates)
Small Dessert Plates (Kenn & Della have an unopened pack of 200)
Napkins (Al still has hundreds)
Cold Cups (Al still has 80 left)
Hot Cups (Al still has 40 left)
Plastic Knives/Forks/Spoons (Al has 70 knives; 100 spoons & 150 forks left, plus Mission BBQ is supplying cutlery)
Small Plastic Party Cups - for wine, etc. (Al has 75 left)
Table Covers (Kenn & Della purchased a ten-pack)
Small Carry Home Containers - for any food left over (Al has 50 left)
Coke Zero and Sprite (for those who do not bring drinks of their own)
Al had suggested picking up several boxes of wine, which Kenn & Della did.

3. Members are never requested to contribute ANYTHING if you don't want to or it is not convenient to do so since we always have plenty of food for everyone without the ladies being requested to prepare side dishes. Having said that, the following EXCEPTIONS should be considered (if possible and feasible - but don't worry about it if you can't)

Salads - if you have a specialty you would like to share
Desserts - if you have a favorite you would like to share
Drinks of your choice (please note that the drinks the Base will be providing are not intended to serve everyone because we assume many of you will bring something you prefer anyway)
Extra Drinks for other guests if you feel so inspired.
Ice - both to put in drinks and to put around beverages. (Kenn's son-in-law Glenn will be bringing a bunch of ice to put drinks in)
Lawn Chairs if you have them. Al advises that they will have seating all around for about twenty with three tables plus three or four card tables - and there is also a picnic table down by the water. (Kenn & Della are bringing their lawn chairs, plus their son-in-law Glenn is bringing a 10' x 10' popup tent)

4. Food Service Support will consist of a grill, two crock pots, a large roaster and a chafing pot with Sterno provided by Al & Mary Ann; The two tables the Base owns being brought by Bill Anderson, along with other tables as may be assigned/offered by others. We'll need a few large coolers with at least one to hold ice for drinks and the others to keep bottled/canned beverages cold. As noted above, Kenn's son-in-law Glenn is bringing a large cooler full of ice.

If in doubt - let Al or John know what you might be able to provide - preferably by e-mail by clicking on these links: John Williams or Al Ptasznik

PROGRAM

We typically socialize during the arrival time window - which this year will be between Noon and about 12:30pm. We'll dive the boat around 12:30pm, offer the invocation and begin eating. We will hold our routine honor ceremonies after we finish eating - after which we'll announce birthdays for the month (to see if Mickey wins whether he is there or not), introduce guests, and make general announcements. If we have any USSVI awards to present we'll do that during this period.

NOTE: Ways & Means Committee Chair Al Ptasznik will run a special 50/50 raffle with tickets priced at: 3 for $2, 7 for $5 and 16 for $10. The 50/50 money is split with the winner as usual, with the other half going to our Base Treasury - so bring plenty of money with you!

We expect to start the self-serve food line at 12:30pm after we dive - so be there or be square (or stay hungry)

ACTIVITIES

The following activities may be available:

Lawn games such as Corn Hole, Frisbees, Jarts, Boccie Ball, etc - plus Bubbles. Feel free to bring any yard game you might have and enjoy. If anyone has a Badminton net and equipment that could also be set up in the yard.
Fishing from the pier (IF you have a current VA Fishing License)
Launching your own Canoe or Kayak right from the waterfront
Use of Al's Kayak as long as one of the two users is an adult

BRIEF HISTORY

Our Base Annual Picnic was initiated and hosted by Bill & Carol Wellner at their home in Amelia Courthouse for ten years beginning in 2004. At the 2013 picnic Bill announced that one would be their last since Carol would be retiring in 2014 and they wanted their calendar to be open for potential travel and other activities. We very much appreciated the hard work Bill & Carol put into each of our annual picnics and we thanked them very much for their dedication and support of our Base. Bill departed on Eternal Patrol on June 21, 2016 - but Carol remains on our Base mailing list and occasionally joins us for meetings and activities.

FUTURE PICNICS

At our July 10, 2014 meeting we voted to continue holding an annual picnic, but decided to let the date and venue float each year, voting for the specifics each year individually. Also at the July 10th meeting, and since no member volunteered to host the picnic, we voted to hold the 2014 picnic at Bear Creek Lake State Park on the third Saturday in October.

However, subsequent to that meeting new member Al Ptasznik and his spouse Mary Ann offered to host the 2014 picnic at their beautiful home on Lake Anna. We formally voted at our September 13, 2014 meeting to change the 2014 picnic venue to the Ptasznik home - and have the Base arrange for the main menu items to be catered.

Since we haven't yet quite destroyed their home at the the earlier picnics, the Ptasznik's have continued to invite us back again annually!!

Thanks Al & Mary Ann!!