October 1 - 2, 2005

Fall Foliage Tour

Newport, Rhode Island

Written by: Kevin Abato

Know what the best part of the DeLorean Mid-Atlantic club's Fall Foliage Tour is? Good weather and lots of beautiful fall foliage to view. Well... one out of two ain't bad!

This year marked our 6th annual Fall Foliage Tour, and we decided to return to the New England states for our annual event. While the weather could not have been better, mother nature threw us a curveball by not being cold enough, resulting in a lack of color change on the trees. Did we care? Heck no... DMA members have a good time no matter what!

As is the club's norm for any event, we set up several meeting places for members to meet up and caravan. Our first official stop as a group was in Mystic, CT. We all decided that after a lengthy morning of driving we could use some food in our bellies. Old Mystic Village proved to be just the right place. Jammed pack with little shops and restaurants, members had a variety of places to choose from for grabbing a small lunch to hold us over until that evenings dinner.

It was quickly discovered that the village contained many quaint shops and sights, but most importantly was the discovery of the candy shop which boasted chocolate covered bananas that turned out to be a huge hit with our crowd.

After stuffing in some healthy eats for lunch, and a ton of sugar coated candy, we decided to get back on the road and move on to our next location. Mike Deluca had arranged for us to tour the Vanderbilt mansion in Rhode Island, followed by some dinner at Flow's Drive Through Clam Shack.

Somehow being all juiced up on sugar and taking a one hour drive north didn't seem like it would be a good mix, but we managed to not have any problems and arrive in Newport, RI ready for our next adventure.

On the way to Newport Rhode Island, we drove up Rt. 95 and down some other highways that proved to be very scenic and enjoyable. The usual antics of talking on our radios, playing leapfrog, and having a good time made this leg of our journey go quickly.

Before we knew it we had arrived in Newport and were on our way through the local streets to the Vanderbilt mansion.

Interestingly enough as we caravanned through town and were stopped at the numerous traffic lights, you could see many people on the sidewalk lifting large heavy invisible objects with handles... Or was it that they were explaining "Gull Wing Doors" to the people with them?

If you ever have the chance to tour some of the mansions in Newport, we highly recommend it! The Vanderbilt mansion was a great tour and was very interesting. Built in 1896, it cost ~8 Million dollars in its day. Today it is considered priceless.

The tour was about an hour long and went over all the details of the house, the servants, and the family that lived there.

The preservation society that runs the tours was nice enough to not only provide us with a private tour, but let us park the DeLoreans on the grounds of the mansion!

The tour did not allow us to use any kind of photography inside, so if you are interested in seeing the interior of the mansion, you'll have to pay the $10 fee like we did.

Outside of the mansion, we had managed to collect our own tour groups. Other visitors were flocking around our cars and asking questions. Some of the staff who worked at the mansion asked to take photos and had many questions for us. We told them it was a $10 fee to ask questions and take photos... JUST LIKE THEIR TOUR, only kidding :)

After touring the mansion, we took a brief road trip around the rest of Newport to see other houses that we could never possibly afford, and then headed to "Flows Drive Through Clam Shack" for a seafood dinner.

Immediately following dinner, we hit the road again heading back to Norwich, CT where we would be staying for the night. YEAH!!! Time to throw away some money recklessly! No... we were not buying DeLoreans on e-Bay... we were going to hit the slots and table games at the Mohegan Sun Native American Reservation and Casino!

The late Saturday evening hours melted away into early morning Sunday as we played at the casino. Some of us lost, some of us won, and others did not luck out finding any stray $20 bills on the floor despite their best hopes (you know who you are...)

We jumped the last shuttle back to the hotel around 1:30am and got some much needed sleep. It had been a long day, and everyone was exhausted and ready to lay their heads down for a while.

Original plans for Sunday were to get some breakfast and take a tour of a navel submarine nearby. Most of the group either enjoyed the continental breakfast at the hotel, or went out for a bite to eat. Sadly, since we did not plan set times around Sunday's event we would up not making it to the Submarine. Most people wanted to hit the road home. After all, we had done some extensive traveling this weekend and the thought of the drive home was pretty inviting for many members. A small group of people decided to trek back down Rt. 95 into New York and find something to do closer to home.

We wound up stopping just over the Tappan Zee bridge in Nyack, NY which is adjacent to the Hudson river. We took a nice tour of this bustling town and its many shops near the water, but it wasn't long before we got hungry again... time for lunch? Sure! How about a little ice cream to hold us over!

We all enjoyed some Cold Stone Creamery treats (if you not figured it out yet, this was not the healthy eating weekend for some of us)!

After finishing our treats we decided to call it a successful weekend and go home. Fall Tour VI was completed and everyone had a great time! If you have not done so already, we really encourage you to join our fun family and come out to one of our events. You will have the time of your life!

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Upcoming Events

We host four events per year that attract crowds from all over the region. This includes our Spring Social tech session, Summer Fun Run and Fall Foliage Driving Tours, and Winter Holiday Party. Check out our upcoming events for sign-up information.

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