On 8 June, club members made a wine-tasting excursion to the Blue Grouse Winery, just south of Duncan, taking the scenic coastal route from just south of Nanaimo. Catherine Phillips, club quartermaster, provides this report on the outing:
A group of the Cruisers drove to the A&W in Oyster to have a bite to eat and to wait for anyone else who was going to join us on the drive to Blue Grouse Winery. Randy & Catherine were in the lead truck. Andy Earle, Russ & Rosemary LaBelle and Graham & Susie Miller were all at the A'&W. Robert Sharman and Carol Williams showed up a few minutes later.
Since no one else showed up in the next half hour, we left a little early (12:30 pm) and as we headed out on the road, Greg and Donna Bromley joined the procession at the streetlights. The roads were good, the sun was hot and there weren't many people traveling that day. The route was lovely going through scenic bays, meadows and local backwaters. We did a couple of extra scenic detours and ‘u-ey’ or two taking people to places some had never been before—like the ferry terminal to Thetis—and a necessary u-turn when the lead truck realized the road sign pointed to the wrong road. Greg's car left the convoy for him to get some lunch. Once we crossed the Trans Canada Hwy and were on Koksilah Rd heading to Lakeside Rd, the lead vehicle breathed a sigh of relief: yea! we're almost at the winery!
The winery is located in a lovely spot with an impressive building. While we waited for any late comers, some of us had wine slushies—yummy! I could have spent the afternoon looking at the view and drinking those slushies. Charles Cochrane and Louise Gallagher met us at Blue Grouse after we arrived. The winery staff were wonderful and very knowledgeable about their wines. Each of us had our favourites. Greg and Donna Bromley showed up after having to deal with their car overheating and still not having had any lunch. Good on them for still meeting us.
