Prevue September/October 2010 - (Page 20)

virginia beach targets [on location] danielle adams, cmP green groups “P convention center wins gold leed cert + chef delaney shows us his tomatoes ermission to come aboard,” was my first thought as I walked into the newly renovated, sleek and spacious Virginia Beach Convention Center, with its tall steel Chesapeake Bay bounty Chef Robbie Delaney did some catching outside the aquarium and served a fusion of luscious sustainable dishes from the nearby Bay, the local bountiful gardens and the nearby dairy farms to come up with a meal to make your taste buds tingle. Highly recommend the jumbo lump Chesapeake Bay crab meat sauteed with Smithfield Ham and May peas over a jalapeno cornbread served with green and white asparagus. The only thing better was the most incredible heirloom tomatoes (seriously, I’ve never tasted anything like them) served with blackened shrimp over baby romaine and crumbled bleu cheese and buttermilk dressing. It was a veritable Taste of the Bay sustainable feast, with wine from the regional vineyards. The warmest, most sincere welcome I’ve ever had upon entering a hotel happened at the 290-room Hilton Oceanfront Resort Hotel situated on the beautiful sands of Virginia Beach. Gigi Atkins has been working for hotel owner Bruce Thompson for over 20 years. When I commented to her that she was the most friendly hotel greeter I’d ever encountered, she said, “No, Danielle, I am a Journey Ambassador. My job is to make your journey to our friendly city and beautiful hotel as pleasant as possible.” Talk to Gigi, a jewel of this sea city. Our group then enjoyed a fabulous reception on the top floor in the executive Empyrean Club with Kelly Prindall, owner of Orchids for Hire. She grows them, rents them, and then regrows them. That’s followed with dinner at Salacia—the only 4-diamond restaurant in the region. Salacia is hidden behind a wall of cobalt blue glass blocks just off the lobby on the ground floor of the hotel. For a more casual dining experience, try Azure, inside or out, your view of the wide sandy beaches is a delight. For breakfast, we dined at the Empyrean Club after a early swim overlooking the Atlantic in the hotel’s infinity pool. vbfun.com/conventioncenter; hiltonvb.com tower resembling a ship’s command center, the large glass windows extending 90 feet high and the beautiful teak-like wood throughout. Cocktails anyone! The outside upper deck of the tower, with its weathered wood flooring overlooking the ocean only a few blocks away is perfect for a 50-person reception. At the helm is Courtney Dyer, who steered this ship through LEED Gold certification (existing building)—the first in the nation. “I am so proud of all the time and dedication toward a sustainable future that our green team is committed to,” says Dyer. The animated video wall spanning the 360-ft wide prefunction space can save hundreds of trees that would normally be cut down to produce signage and printed material. They even saved money and material by leaving out those annoying columns in the 150,000-sf exhibit space! And how many convention centers let you pick some herbs from the garden out back to make your salad dressing for lunch? Now that I had my sea legs, I was ready to hop on board the Ruddee Explorer pontoon boat to take us to the Virginia Beach Aquarium. Of course we had to make a detour prior to boarding. The very gracious Virginia Beach CVB, whose always entertaining director of sales/marketing, Al Hutchinson, arranged for us to stop by for hors d’oeuvres and naturally brewed drinks at the fine local establishment of Rockafella’s. Once refreshed, the short trip to the aquarium through one of the most vital parts of the local ecosystem, the Owl’s Creek Salt Marsh Estuary, was smooth sailing. If you bring your snorkeling gear, you can help clean the 50,000-gallon aquarium with the largest collection of Chesapeake Bay fish in the world. Or, a small group can actually participate in a harbor seal behavioral training session. 20 | prevue magazine http://www.vbfun.com/conventioncenter http://www.hiltonvb.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue September/October 2010

NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte
Four Seasons Scottsdale
Marriott Costa Rica
RockResorts
Starwood Hotels
Portland/Baltimore/Tampa
Virginai Beach
The Green Meetings Megatrend
Dude Ranches
Cast Off to The Caribbean
Hyatt Regency Curacao
Riu Paradise Island, Bahamas
The Nature of Orlando
Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando
Renaissance Vinoy, St. Petersburg
A (Meeting) Room with a view
The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs
Fairmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver
Berlin + Dusseldorf
Copenhagen
Melbourne

Prevue September/October 2010