Wildwood Weekend – 2019

May 17-19, 2019

The early bird gets the worm, and the early car gets the carport if you’re Pat and Patty Cawthorne. They arrived a day early to claim a covered parking spot at The MarLane Motel for DVC’s Wildwood weekend. Scheduled for Friday, May 17 through Sunday the 19^th, the Cawthorne’s kicked it off by visiting one of Cape May County’s popular landmarks, Tony Canal’s Liquors, to stock up on essentials.

Friday afternoon witnessed the arrival of British cars including MGTDs, As, Bs and a Mini as The MarLane slowly filled to capacity with classic car lovers and lovers of another kind, a bride and groom to be and their wedding party goers. It didn’t take long for the fun to begin, as Sally Yocum quickly became DVC’s ambassador to the party going crowd.

Friday night’s dinner began with a chilly hike to The Mud Hen Brewery offering all the opportunity to admire Cindy Nolan’s trendy knee socks and Dick Suffredini’s classic docksiders. Abundant seafood selections, from right off the boat a block away, were devoured by most, with oyster Po Boy’s being the favorite. The oyster’s reputation was reinforced by Curtis Yocum who promptly became infatuated with Amelia from Serbia, who assured him that she was not related to the famous pilot.

The absence of babysitters, Tom and Jaimee (grandkids) and Adam and Eva (Dobermans), were realized Friday night as our group calmly drank and talked without worry about eviction, arrest or skinny dipping in the sea at midnight.

Fran was finally able to ride shotgun with Paul on Saturday morning. Her customers were crying and making appointments with their psychologists, but it proved to be worth it. The weather cooperated for a change and all DVCers, in their colorful classics, drove in caravan fashion through Wildwood, across the ICW to Rio Grande. The cars stayed together behind the expert lead car navigator, Gudie Fischer, who lead the group to the beautiful Willow Creek Winery in West Cape May. Wine flights, wings, cheese, crackers, hot pretzels, and other goodies heightened our spirits, as we gazed at the countless rows of grape vines basking in the noonday sun. A frisky jaunt of our caravan through Cape May brought applause from tourists and waves of approval from beachgoers as the caravan headed back to Wildwood.

Drivers and navigators alike rested in preparation for the evening’s food and fun at the famous Cape May Lobster House. Meanwhile, a patriotic trio of MGAs, red (Suffredini’s) white (Cawthorne’s) and blue (Nolan’s) took a needed break under shelter. The Sanders’ Mini, being the new “girl” in town, modeled for the crowd as Jim touched her up for an evening out. Later, our drive across the causeway and the sparkling ICW would tantalize the senses with its sea air aromas and sparkling views. Hungry anyone?

With the exception of our sponsors, Gudie and Wolfgang, all were amazed by the number of patrons packed into the Lobster House. It was the weekend before Memorial Day and a 45minute waiting list to be seated in the main restaurant drove our party to the vessel in the harbor for drinks. It was chilly but magical. Servers popped from below deck through portals, balancing drink trays and Adam and Eva appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to join the party.

Once inside and warm, great seafood and conversation dominated the rest of our night together. Our British classics had performed flawlessly all day, and if our caravan’s trek back to The MarLane had been without incident, the Club would have set a record. Fortunately, Murphy’s Law prevailed once again as Wolf and Gudie lost their brakes – a minor incident – and a long standing record of DVC mechanical failures during events was held in tact.

Footnotes: Patty remembered everyplace we ate, Mike gave Curtis a pre-Memorial Day, military history lesson, Ben finally did get the trunk lid closed on his “A”, and Sally talked the bride out of tying the knot. All in all, a great weekend!

— Event Sponsors, Wolfgang & Gudie Fischer