For years now, the DMA and its members have been enjoying unique and fun packed events while enjoying their unique and fun to drive cars. The club continues to grow every year and member participation remains steady. This is one club with incredibly enthusiastic members.
This year's DeLorean Mid-Atlantic Fall Foliage Tour was no exception to the tradition – it was a blast. As usual, we lucked out with fantastic weather. There were a little over 30 people and 15 cars in attendance for the tour. Along the way, the club even gained a new member.
On Friday night, the group met at the Dansbury Depot for dinner and to have some fun. The pumpkin martinis were especially enjoyable. After dinner, the group went back to the Shannon Inn, hung out and slept.
The next morning the group was up at the crack of dawn. Gift bags were distributed to each car and inside were not only a bunch of goodies to snack on and drinks for the ride as well as directions, but each had a piece of paper and a pencil in it. The paper had a set of DeLorean Wheels printed on it. This was for our contest of who could draw the best DeLorean. The winner would be announced later at dinner. The group left the hotel at 8:30am for our scenic drive on some amazing curvy and hilly roads that tested the cars limits while on our way to visit Gillinger Glass.
Everyone arrived at Gillender Glass at about 9:50am. Members split up into two groups of people where everyone learned their history and saw glass artisans hard at work. It's amazing what people can do with molten glass! After the tour was over, members could browse their gift shop and buy whatever they want. To our amazement, the Staff was as excited about our cars as we were about their glass company! They all wanted pictures in front of and inside the cars. Of course, we obliged.
Everyone then headed for lunch at the Erie Hotel. The food and service was fantastic. They also played BTTF music in the background for us. The dessert was a huge buzz too! As usual, the staff was very excited to see the DeLoreans!
After dinner we made our way to the Casino Theatre where we played games, had ice cream, and some of us saw a movie. They created a special and enormous DeLorean Sundae just for us! I think a few people had the guts to try it. The best part was they served you food and/or ice cream while you were watching the movie! How cool is that?!?! After members got their fill of the Casino, they headed back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep.
We arrived a little late at Callies Candies and Pretzel factory due to a member punishing a deer with his front bumper. Let me tell you, the deer got the bad end on that encounter. Tom N. hit the deer and the only damage to his car was a bent license plate and his grill popped off with a few of the ball studs breaking. The good news is his car is back to 100% and from what I’ve been told, it’s even better than before with zero structural damage underneath. Yay Tom!
After everyone got their fill at Callies, the group headed on over to the Buck Hill Inn. Check out the website. It’s a top-level luxury resort that's been closed for 20 years and it made an incredible backdrop for the DeLoreans. The group spent over a half an hour there taking pictures and enjoying the scenery.
After the photo shoot, everyone headed over for dinner at the Fairway Grill. The food was fantastic for most of us. The Salmon and Lasagna were great and the fresh pumpkin soup was out of this world. We also had our raffle that turned out great, thanks to all who donated. (Special T Auto, PJ Grady, DCS, BTTF.com, and Wyatt Rinker) Then came time for the contest for who could draw the best DeLorean. The drawings we judged by the officers and the winner was Kevin Abato.
Sunday morning, most of the group headed out to the Balloon Festival. Unfortunately, some left early on Sunday morning and weren’t able to attend the festival. Those of us who stayed had an AWESOME TIME! Dan was chosen to hold the checkered flag at the starting gate for the wiener dog and pig races and got some great video of the whole thing. We saw the hot-air balloons launch in the afternoon, a lumberjack competition which was actually very entertaining, as well as skydivers jumping out of a plane and land right in front of us! Some members took the free ski-lift to the top of the mountain, while others chowed down on the fresh pulled pork from the pig roast. Oh yes, it was VERY FRESH! (No, it wasn’t the pigs that lost from the races… I know what you’re thinking!) We also go to show off our cars to everyone who arrived and competed in a People's Choice Award competition. The winners of that competition were: In second place: Jason and Dave Onuschack, and in First place: Keith and Brenda Murphy! Congrats to you all for having the favorite DMC's of the day!
Now that everything is said and done, we all had a fantastic time on this years Fall Foliage tour. A big thanks to all that came to the event. We hope to see everyone at the next event.