Blue Ridge Wine Tasting Festival
March 2011
The Georgia group met on Friday morning and caravanned to Canyons’ Restaurant in Blowing Rock to join the rest of the group for lunch. After checking in to our hotel, we took a walk to downtown Blowing Rock. It is a charming town with several art galleries, garden & craft shops, unique gift shops and restaurants. At Kilwin’s, you can watch them making the fudge and the waffle cones. The wonderful smells from this shop are irresistible.
The hotel had a nice lounge area where we met for wine, cheese, cookies and conversation. It was fun catching up with everyone and getting acquainted with our newest members Brenda and Art from Alabama. Our party of 15 walked to TWIGS for dinner. It was a delicious and festive meal.
The Wine Tasting Festival was to start at noon on Saturday BUT the weather turned very bad during the night with heavy rain and strong winds. By noon, the sky had cleared and the sun was out and we were on our way back downtown for shopping, site seeing, lunch and the festival. The opening of the festival was delayed because of wind damage to the tent but it was open by mid afternoon.
It was quite an affair for such a small town. There were multiple vintners, a variety of wine accessories to purchase and a buffet of fruit, cheeses, and other gourmet edibles. It was VERY crowded but an interesting experience. A couple of us drove to the site of the “blowing rock” for a few photos. It has an amazing panoramic view of the mountains and valleys, but the wind REALLY blows!
Dinner was at Storie Street Grille on Main St. It is a small gourmet restaurant with a delightful atmosphere. Everyone had a delicious meal and the “gourmet” offerings were confirmed with a side dish of “green rice batons”. They didn’t taste like much but they provided a great deal of laughter.
Since Friday was Russell’s birthday, we surprised him with a birthday cake and an impromptu “magic” show performed by Norman and his assistant Brenda! Details of this show are for “members only”.
On Sunday, we took our separate routes home. Another unique, festive and memorable outing with our fabulous Allante’ group. See everyone in May for another Allante’ adventure.
See you next time!
Paula Vopelak - Vice President
Members on Trip
Linda and Norman Penfield
Paula and Russ Vopelak
Darlene and Coleman Armstrong
Darr and Budd Neidig
Brenda and Art Sevelius
Delmar Brinkley
John Nash
Thomas Boyland