Family Reunion 2019

Dates
July 19-21, 2019.  Mark those dates on your calendar, and make them sacred.

Place
We shall meet again at Unicoi State Park in Helen, Georgia.  We will be using the “Fireside Room” as our gathering room — it’s in a different area than the group room we had last time (which was already booked).  This one should work well.  Get excited.

Making Reservations
Unicoi rents lodge rooms (think “hotel rooms”) and cabins.  Lodge rooms have two double beds and a loft (where there’s a 3rd bed).  Some of Unicoi’s cabins look like sideways barrels, if you’re into that.  Current rates are:

Lodge Room:  $130.30 per night
1 bedroom Barrel Cabin:  $149.85 per night
2 bedroom Barrel Cabin:  $172.85 per night
3 bedroom Cabin:  $201.60 per night

Please go ahead and book your rooms — Unicoi fills up quickly.  We don’t have a block of rooms reserved, but Unicoi will work to put us near each other if we all tell them the secret code:  “Graham Family Reunion” (if you’re on the phone with a real, live person) or “08018” (if you’re booking online).

The phone number for reserving rooms at Unicoi is 1-800-573-9659, ext. 1.  You can also book online at:

https://secure.iqres03111.com/iqreservations/asp/CheckAvailability.asp

Interesting note:  when you book online, you can select “Best Available Rate.”  I found that’s not the best available rate.  When I selected “Internet Discount,” it shaved a couple dollars off the bill.  Go figure.

Come high water, you can cancel reservations up to 7 days in advance without charge.  So, no reason not to go ahead and book now to reserve your spot.

Big Event
FLEA MARKET!!!  <mic drop>

Start gathering your fun old junk, the knickknacks you don’t have room to put anywhere, the neat old toys you want to pass down, those things you swore would be collectibles one day, the clothes your family has outgrown (due to increased height or weight), or anything you’re hankering to regift.  Basically, anything that would be free to a good home.  Stash it somewhere safe until July 19, 2019, and then haul it to Unicoi.  The kids will love all of it.  And I might snag some of it myself.

Volunteer Assignments
The brave souls who volunteered their time and resources (or whose time and resources were volunteered) to bring you a wonderful 2019 reunion, and the good deeds they shall do, are:

Carol and Butch Yates:  Provide plates, plastic ware, napkins and cups
Kelly Dean and Rachel Graham:  Plan kids’ activities at Unicoi
Rosemary Yates:  Planning food
Rosemary Yates:  Booking Unicoi (Well done!)
Matthew Gilley:  Awesome family photography, should he choose to accept this mission
Will Graham:  Devotional (much pithier, as evidenced this year)
Will Graham:  Flea Market Marketer
Jackie Schulz:  Reserving Hickory Knob for the 2020 reunion