President's Message By George Darnell

Welcome to Fall!

In October we begin our busiest travel season. We have four trips scheduled for October: PA Railroads and Disasters; Potomac Eagle Train Ride; and Fall Colors Winery Tours I and II. All are sold out. Don’t forget to drop off your check with the concierge to confirm your reservation to avoid someone on the waiting list from taking your place.

September Trips

We had two great trips in September: Deep Creek Lake; and Bridges and Breweries. Read the report for Deep Creek Lake in this issue. Oktoberfest Bridges and Breweries will be in the November issue.

Schedule of Trips Updated 

See the updated list of trips (V15) in this issue. Bill Johnson completed plans for our Leesburg Outlets Shopping spree with lunch and wine stops on November 14. We haven’t reached our minimum for this trip; so there is plenty of room for you to register. Check out the flyer in this issue. And Doc Holaday completed plans for a Christmas Candlelight tour of Mount Vernon in December. This trip is already sold out, but we need someone to lead it. Don’t forget your check; we have a long waiting list. We usually post our trips on MTL Events at least a month before the trip for registration. Mark your calendars and stay tuned to MTL Events.

Registering for Travel Club Trips

If you have any trouble registering for our trips the Lodge Concierge should be able to help you. Or send me an email with questions.

Trip Ideas for 2026

It’s not too early to start thinking about our trips for 2026. If you have any suggestions, especially if you can help in the planning, please send them to me with as much information as you can. An overnight trip that I am thinking about for after Easter is a “Blue Ridge Spring Odyssey.” It would include Natural Bridge State Park, lunch in Lexington, tour of Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, the Roanoke Star overlook, supper and overnight stay in the historic Hotel Roanoke, Smith Mountain lunch cruise on The Virginia Dare, tour of Thomas Jefferson’s Popular Forest summer home, and dinner at Devils Backbone Base Camp on Route 151. Let me know if you want to help plan this.

See our tentative list of trip ideas for 2026 in this issue. We will return to using Shenandoah Tours for some of our trips.

October 13 Meeting

We have a real treat this month. Those of you who have been around since the Lodge opened in 2016 will remember Nicole Burrows as our first concierge. She was the face of Trilogy at Lake Frederick. Today she is the assistant manager and gives classes on MTL to new members. Nicole has agreed to give us a refresher on MTL, especially on finding and registering for new events before they are sold out. Don’t forget to bring your special dish to share with us. I hope to see you around campus and at our meeting in Rachel’s Kitchen at 11:30 a.m.