Days 16-17
The long-awaited TDIFest is finally here. For the sake of those reading on my website or in VWVortex, the TDIFest takes place over Labor Day weekend each year. The thing which makes TDIFest different each year is that the location changes. As a result, different organizers bring different activities into the mix and enable each Fest to be a little different. This year featured a dyno session, distillery tours, a timed scenic drive, and a pig roast in addition to the familiar raffle table, swap meet, vendor market, show-n-shine, and tech sessions. I chose to forego the dyno session and timed scenic tour due to my cooling system issue. Besides, I’ve done enough driving lately and wanted to just relax!

Diana and I slept in Saturday and then got the car cleaned up for the show-n-shine. Once I was satisfied with the car
(I really did do just a “good enough” job), I took Diana to the salt water swimming pool and worked on some photographs while she burned off some energy. I took about 150 photos at the show. Instead of sharing all the photos here, I’ll just share a few and then provide a link to the album with the rest of the photos:
A panoramic (click) from the 5th floor...
Another panoramic (click)...
And another... okay... click that one, too!
CLICK HERE to see the rest of the photos. This album features photos of both the show cars as well as other TDIs parked around the hotel. Anyone who's even a little observant should have been able to recognize there are A LOT of VWs here.

The show-n-shine format was a tad different this year. Since there was often just two or three MK3s in attendance each year, I was usually a shoe-in for an award. It was nice, but not as satisfying as actually competing for a prize with a real chance of leaving without recognition. This year’s show featured a bit of class combining. I may or may not win an award. I’m leaning toward NOT since there are a lot of newer, nicer cars here
(mine's starting to look beat). But I’m a contender for the “Longevity Award.” My car’s not as old as the B4 Passats in attendance. But the 370,800 miles on my car may give it some bonus points and enable me to snare an award. We’ll see. The closing banquet and awards presentation is tonight. I’ll post results tomorrow.
After the show, we attended a pig roast hosted by Don Jacobs VW. The food was good and they had the 2012 Passat TDI on scene for test drives. Diana was pretty tickled to be in this panoramic shot THREE TIMES...
Click...
This morning was a group breakfast with proceeds to benefit TDIClub.com...
BTW, one of the functions of TDIFest is to raise funds to support the site. I takes a lot of resources to keep a large discussion forum afloat. TDIClub.com does it only through donations and TDIFest. There are NO "banner advertizers" there. :thumbup:
Continued in next post...