On Monday, we visited with a great group of children and their families at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. It was a great way to spend the afternoon!
Over the weekend, Marriott's Spirit of Aloha Tour bus drove approximately eight hours before arriving in the Windy City! Here we are parked outside the JW Marriott Chicago!
Marriott's Margaret Laletin and Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau's Kathy Dever got right to work, designing Hawaii strategies for our Midwest clients.
Week two of Marriott's 2011 Spirit of Aloha Tour is wrapping up and we have lots more to share with everyone. Even though the official itinerary says we had only two stops this week (Seattle and Minneapolis), the bus had quite a few more. On Monday we were in Seattle where we could see the Space Needle from our rooms at the Courtyard Lake Union... Then on Friday we were in Minneapolis across the street from the Mall of America at the Marriott Airport Hotel... And Saturday night we pulled into the JW Marriott Chicago. But in between we also had stops in Missoula, Billings and Bismarck.
At every stop, we were greeted very warmly by the staff and we have been handing out macadamia nuts and lei all along the way. We made a lot of friends along the route, spreading the aloha spirit. Special thanks to the Missoula Courtyard, the Billings Fairfield Inn and the Bismarck Fairfield Inn North for keeping us warm and rested on our long drive across to the Midwest. This photo is what our drive looked like for hundreds of miles...
We departed snowy Minneapolis on a cold Saturday morning for Chicago...
The Spirit of Aloha Tour visited KARE News @ 4:00 with anchors Pat Evans and Diana Pierce.
On Friday, January 28, the Spirit of Aloha Tour visited Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul to spread some aloha cheer to the children, families and staff.
After traveling up the West Coast, the Spirit of Aloha Tour turned East and is now in the Twin Cities, where we're enjoying what we're told is a "warm" spell for Minneapolis... in the 20s!
We had an enjoyable and productive time in Seattle, sharing our spirit of aloha and warmth of the Hawaiian Islands with many partners and customers.
Here are pictures from our aloha dinner at The Pink Door, hosted by Marriott's Elizabeth Linn and Asha Wignarajah.
One of the most rewarding portions of our Tour is spending time with the keiki, or children at select Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. On Monday, Seattle Children's Hospital welcomed us with open arms! The children had a wonderful time, especially 6-year-old Maxine who took a liking to the Polynesian Cultural Center dancers!
We awoke Monday to drizzling weather, but that didn't stop us from encouraging the warmth and spirit of aloha in Seattle! Marriott's team leaders including John Limper, Elizabeth Linn, Asha Wignarajah, and Nicole Nagashima held an aloha lunch at Palace Ballroom, the perfect way to get rid of the Monday blues! Here is Elizabeth with Microsoft's Angel Hanson and the Polynesian Cultural Center's entertainers.
