Volume 24 #5 June, 2014 Jun 14 Greendance Winery Cruise Upcoming Events Oct 4 Bellafonte Train Cruise Jun 21 Holmes Amish Cruise Oct 11 Chautauqua and Wineries Cruise Jun 28 Stramba Farm & Fiber Mill Cruise Dec 6 WPMC Christmas Party Thu Jul 3 7:00 PM -Sun Jul 19-20 Jul 26 Thu Jul 31 7:00 PM Aug 9 Aug 16 Aug 23 Sep 13 Sep 20 Sep 27 WPMC Monthly Teleconference Meeting Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Night of the Living Dead Cruise WPMC Monthly Teleconference Meeting New River Gorge Cruise Coon Cruise WPMC Annual Picnic Golf Outing Christmas in September Foxburg and Glass Blowing Cruise Greendance Winery at Sand Hill in Mt. Pleasant by Richard & Leeanna Ryba T his is more than just a wine cruise as it will also include a bit of Westmoreland County history as we ZOOM-ZOOM around the county. At Greendance, they offer over 40 wines free for tasting every day and also offer a variety of gourmet snack and sandwich options for around $9. There is a possibility that a full luncheon may be available. An added benefit is being able to purchase a delicious dessert of pies and cookies made from the berries on the farm. Yum! Date/Time: urday, June 14. Meet at 9:30am to leave on the cruise by 10:00am Meeting Place: The Sheetz parking lot at 4701 Wm Penn Hwy (Rt.22) & School Rd RSVP: To Richard and Leeanna Ryba, Phone: 724-337- 8372 Email: rybar@nb.net
2 Holmes Amish Cruise by Michael & Sandy Butler J oin Michael & Sandy Butler on an Amish Day car cruise to Holmes County, Ohio. After a short drive on Route 22, we'll hit the windy roads of Route 250W around scenic Tappan Lake, where we will make our first pit stop for a picturesque view of the lake. From there, journey through Sugar Creek, Walnut Creek and end in Berlin, Ohio where we'll do some shopping in this quaint Amish town. After that, we'll drive back to Sugar Creek, where we'll enjoy some Amish cooking at the Dutch Valley (Der Dutchman) Restaurant. After lunch, take time to visit the Dutch Valley Bakery, Cheese Shop and Dutch Valley Gifts & Coop. Then we'll drive up the road for a Wine Tour and tasting at Breitenbach Wine Cellars. On the way home, we'll stop for ice cream. Date & Time: urday June 21, 2014, Meet 8:00 A.M. Leave promptly at 8:30 A.M. Meeting Place: Shop N Save Parking Lot, 600 Marketplace Drive, Oakdale, PA 15071 (Imperial Exit - Route 30W/978S) Cost: Wine tour and tasting is $25, which will be divided among all participants. Limit: 15 Cars RSVP: mbutler@westpennmiataclub.com or call 412-498-0962 by June 18th. Stramba Alpaca Farm by Wally and Sherry Swarmer C ome pet an Alpaca at Stramba Alpaca farm in Wampum, PA. On urday, June 28, we will meet at the Target in Gibsonia. (550 Grandview Crossing; RT 8 app. 2 miles North of the PA turnpike exit 39 (Butler Valley)). We'll leave at 9:30 for about a 1 1/2 hour drive to the farm. We'll spend about 1 1/2 hour there, and then off to lunch at Shakespeare's Pub at Olde Stonewall Golf Club, Ellwood City. Save room for ice cream. From lunch we'll take a short drive to Katie's Korner ice cream shop for our last stop of the day. At this point we'll be close to Rt 79 near Zelienople, so the cruise will end there at app. 4:00. RSVP to wsswarmer@consolidated.net or 724-443- 0834. Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix By Bob Coon P lease plan to join us for this annual event that includes the International Car Show on urday, July 19th. All cars must be registered. Preregistration is recommended, but registration can also be done on urday morning. Registration price is $30.00 and includes parking for urday and Sunday, a race program, and dash plaque. (What a deal!) There will be a tent and picnic tables available for both days. For more information about the week long event and preregistration visit www.pvgp.org. Next month's newsletter will detail more specifics about the club activities on urday and parking. Night of the Living Dead Cruise By John and Shar Whitmire P lease join us as we cruise curvy, back roads over hilly farmland on our quest to find vintage Zombies. We will be driving through beautiful countryside and visiting the infamous graveyard where scenes from "Night of the Living Dead" were filmed and our group picture will be memorialized. Then on to the Zombie Museum, the only one in Pennsylvania...or so we've been told. In keeping with our theme, lunch will follow at a wonderful restaurant that has pitchforks for door handles. Following lunch there will be more cruising to the inevitable ice cream delight. A sophisticated cruiser will have watched the movie before coming on the cruise, as there will be a quiz, and prizes awarded! For nostalgic film lovers, this cruise will be ghoulish good fun! (continued on page 3)
3 (continued from page 2) Date & Time: July 26, 2014 - Cars need to be at the Dairy Queen by 9:00am. We'll have our drivers meeting and leave promptly at 9:15am. Place: Zelienople Dairy Queen parking lot adjacent to Northgate Plaza (BiLo Grocery) approximately 1/2 mile north of Zelienople on Rt.19. We'll gather in the Dairy Queen parking lot, next to Burger King. Cost: $3.00 per person for the Zombie Museum (please have correct change) RSVP: We are limiting our cruise to 15 cars in addition to ourselves so please make your reservation ASAP by emailing johnandshar1@comcast.net or by calling 412-716-4314. Fellows Riverside Garden Cruise Report by Sheila Bell O n urday, May 31st, fifteen Miata cars filled with twenty-seven eager cruisers, embarked on a funfilled journey to the beautiful Fellows Riverside Gardens in Youngstown, Ohio. It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day, and our travels took us on several twisty, curvy, and windy Miata roads. We stopped for a delicious lunch at Ruby Tuesdays, then headed on our way. We enjoyed the nine mile scenic drive through the Mill Creek Metro Park, en route to our destination, which was located in the park. Once there, we had the opportunity to take a self-guided tour of the gardens, gift shop, art gallery, vintage camera display, and the beautiful Lake Glacier. Some of the flowers were in bloom, while others were lost to the cold, harsh winter. Many more, however, would be blooming throughout the summer. We also saw two wedding parties preparing for festivities that were taking place later in the day. We ended our cruise with an ice cream stop at Handel's in Poland, Ohio. It was truly an awesome day, enjoyed by all who attended. On behalf of all who participated, we'd like to say THANK YOU to Dennis and Ruthann Weber for all of their hard work in planning this very enjoyable cruise. They thought of everything. 2014 CRUISIN & ZOOMIN SEASON BY LINDA ZIMLIKI T he heart of the cruises starts this month. Hope to see you on one or all of them. The WPMC Picnic is coming up urday, August 23. Everyone attending will be asked to bring a dish. There will be prizes & Miata games. Look for details in July's newsletter. Mark your calendar. At the last monthly meeting we decided to reinstitute the prior ratings of cruises as follows: LEISURE - A NICE DRIVE WHERE YOU WILL ABLE TO ENJOY THE COUNTRY SIDE - COMBINATION OF BELOW SPEED LIMIT & AT SPEED LIMIT SPORTY - A SPEEDIER RIDE SO YOU CAN ENJOY THOSE CURVES - AT SPEED LIMIT ZOOMIN - YOUR MIATA WILL BE MOVIN THROUGH A LOT OF CURVES WITH HARD DRIVING For cruises already posted, leaders rate them as follows: Greendance Winery at Sandy Hill in Mt Pleasant - Sporty up until winery - leisure after Holmes Amish Cruise - Leisure Stramba Alpaca Farm - Sporty Night of Living Dead - Leisure All future cruises will be rated in their newsletter articles. (continued on page 4)
4 (continued from page 3) The Club has an invitation from the Presque Isle Miata Club. They are having a fund raiser to raise money for The Make-A-Wish Foundation. It is an annual event they share with a Canadian Miata Club, The Niagara Peninsula Miata Club. They are having a picnic held at Camp Notre Dame, 400 Eaton Road, Fairview, Pa. PIMC will provide hot dogs, pop, and water. Everyone is asked to bring a food item to share. You may also bring wine or beer. The cost is $7.00 per person. There will be a Chinese auction and items to hand out from Mazda USA. An optional drive to Geneva on the Lake follows the picnic. Please RSVP to Jan Stock jstock@wishworld.org or 814-868-9474. More information is available at http://eriemiata.wix.com/pimiataclub/dyk#! picnic. It sounds like a good time with a chance to meet other Miata Lovers from other clubs and benefits a worthy charity. If you are interested please contact Dennis Weber at zoomtopless@live.com or 724-342-1296. He has agreed to lead anyone wishing to attend. There is another Miata club holding an event this year. The North Texas Miata Roundup is being hosted by The Lone Star Miata Club. It will be held October 23-26, 2014 in Denton, Texas. Registration fee is $60. There will be a track day, Oct 24, at Eagles Canyon Race Track. They plan to have 2-4 hr cruises for two days and one full day cruise (6-8 hrs) cruise each day. Go to http://www.internetcarclubs.com/events/northtexasmia taroundup2014.aspx for more information. A bit of information for those interested: I spoke to Rob Cochran a few weeks ago. The Mazda dealership he acquired when he bought Billco will be transferred to the Monroeville complex within a couple of months where the Fiat is right now. Mazdas are being sold from the VW dealership on Rt 19 at the moment. Zoom Zoomm Zoommm H Boomin' Zoomers by President Larry Pietropaoli ere we are. Summer has finally arrived and, on most days in Pittsburgh, it actually feels like summer. For the West Penn Miata Club, it's "top down" and country roads time. For my part, my car is inspected, serviced, and polished. Summer 2014 is on. So far, the Club cruises have added the dimension of summer re-acquaintance with old friends and finding new ones. Of course, then there are our "stories" updates. On the topic of cruises: Over the years, our cruises have developed and become very organized to assure a safe and pleasant experience. Just last year, we reviewed the formal "Cruise Guidelines" document to assure that it is up to date and reflective of our "best practices". If any member is interested, a copy is available via email on request from our Event Coordinator, Linda. This was written for the cruise leader's guidance and covers planning and operation of the cruise. Again, our goal is to assure a safe and pleasant experience for all cruise participants. Next up is the Greendance Winery Cruise. (Strawberry fields???) Hope to see you there. July Deadline The deadline for articles for the July newsletter is July 5, 2014
Officers e-mail: web site: wpmc@westpennmiataclub.com http://www.westpennmiataclub.com Founder: Paul Fronko President: Larry Pietropaoli Vice President: Mike Butler (724) 869-9405 (412) 498-0962 West Penn Club Legalese The FUN N THE SUN TIMES is published as a service by the West Penn Miata Club, Inc. a non-profit corporation. Treasurer: Vera DeMatteis Secretary: Bob Coon Events Chair: Linda Zimliki Past President: Bill Willis (724) 962-2217 (412) 366-0261 (724)327-1762 (724) 226-3461 Editor - In - Chief: Steve Lapp Send all editorial contributions to: WEST PENN MIATA c/o Steve Lapp 105 Gadshill Place Pittsburgh, PA 15237 e-mail: slapp@westpennmiataclub.com The WEST PENN MIATA assumes no liability for any information contained herein; or injury or damage resulting from the use of this information. The ideas, maintenance, opinions, or modification tips expressed are to be used at the readers discretion. Individual contributors and/or editors express no approval, authentication, or endorsement. WEST PENN MIATA c/o Bob Coon 111 Kinross Lane Pittsburgh, PA 15237 West Penn Address goes here Club leave room for mail bar code to go here