FordNAIAS Digital Summit – The Henry Ford

Whatever you’ve heard about Detroit, there’s plenty there, worth visiting Motor City for. Thanks to Ford Canada, I had an opportunity to get a glimpse last week.

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I’m not denying the eye-opening presence of homelessness and dilapidated abandoned homes. If more of us took the time to really appreciate what Detroit has to offer, we might find the state of their economy improving though.

 

Not surprisingly, Ford has a large presence in Motor City. During the Ford Digital Summit (#FordNAIAS) we were treated to the experience and story of the Ford Motor Company. I’ve had the good fortune of being at Ford events in the past. True to form, Ford did not disappoint. They pulled out all the stops, with detailed info/welcome packages, greeters that met us exactly where we’d been told to expect them and secure escorts (in Ford vehicles, of course) to our hotel – driven by local active and retired police and firefighters.

 

My flight left Halifax at 10:50am, gaining an hour and connecting in Toronto over lunch, with a stopover just long enough to get through U.S. Customs and airport security – no real meal to be had. After arriving at the Westin, and checking in at the FordNAIAS registration room, we had a fantastic buffet of food waiting for us < for which *I* was ecstatic! > and a little time to freshen up before boarding our bus for the first big event of the Ford Digital Summit. Something about the atmosphere of this event made it impossible to meet fellow “online influencers” and not become fast friends. By the end of day 1, I’d already befriended 4 other Canadian bloggers (among several others on day 2) with whom the remainder of the trip was spent. Connect with them on twitter: @wedding_crasher @paulletourneau @misteryyc @scalazormo

  

This evening was the highlight of my trip: The Henry Ford museum. I would have made the journey just for this, and likely will again someday because we didn’t have nearly enough time for the one small section that we saw. The Henry Ford is a museum of innovation. With collections of cars through the century, farming and industry machinery, home and office furniture, lego architecture, telephones… I was in my glory. The most exciting finds for me, were the bus Rosa Parks was arrested on < I sat in the seat she refused to give up, while listening to her story retold in her own voice! I felt chills and was rather uncomfortable in that seat – being a white woman who was appalled by the sight of the black and white waiting rooms also displayed > and the 1962 Mustang concept! 

 

We were treated to a fantastic meal and plentiful libations, while we were introduced to Ford’s creative team and direction.

 

After returning to the hotel, my FordNAIAS “BFF” and I relaxed while we took in the end of the Golden Globes, tweeting about our night, including the hideous dresses we saw on the awards show.

 

My travel and expenses to the Ford Digital Summit were covered by Ford, however I was not compensated in anyway for my time or this post. Opinions expressed are my own.

 

For the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, click here

A recap of the rest of Day 2 can be found here

To read about the unveiling of the Ford Atlas at the Ford NAIAS click here

To read the FordNAIAS Wrapup click here

 

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at ceilidho at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

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Who says these blogger campaigns don’t work?

I was a participant of a bloggers’ conference sponsored by FORD, then invited to a bloggers’ event about the wonders of Prince Edward Island as well as another FORD event spending a day in the Escape. So, what came of it besides my blog posts?

 

I bought a FORD Focus, then took a family vacation to Prince Edward Island in a loaner FORD Escape (to review in more detail)! What can I say? In both cases, we were not disappointed.

 

Our family vacation to PEI was definitely enhanced by traveling in style in a fully loaded Escape. The first thing we noticed was how much more comfortable it was for a long road trip than my Focus. Not just the extra leg room, or leather seats, but the comfort of the seating itself.

The next big highlight was the Sirius radio. There was a bit of a battle between Charlie & I versus the kids. Not really, but every chance we got, we switched it from the chart hit dance channels, back to 70’s, 80’s or 90’s. 🙂

 

I hadn’t really anticipated the use of the GPS would be necessary in such a small place as PEI. With Charlie driving around like he knew the place almost as well as his hometown, I would have been at a severe disadvantage without it if I’d suddenly found myself chauffeur-less on those crossroads. Never mind the senseless driving in circles it saved us, trying to find that Pizza Delight or some such shop that Charlie was certain was there. 😉

 

Once we left the highway, and had crossed the Confederation Bridge (big anniversary this year!) we rolled down the windows, opened up the moon roof, and may have even gotten a little sunburned (oops!) My favourite feature above all was the backup camera. Driving in and out of crowded parking lots if far less stressful with a camera that shows all of the blind spot right behind the vehicle, especially when it beeps at you when you begin to approach something within its range. 🙂

What’s a family vacation in PEI without COWS ice cream, or amusement parks? We ran out of time for the beach, much to my disappointment but those girlies had the time of their lives. Charlie knows how to make vacation all about the kids, letting them make most of the choices, and stay as long as they like.

 

Sandspit was the first big day, with Shining Waters and a little shopping on day two. Swimming at the Rodd Mill River resort pool. Eating. There’s so much to do on the Island, a weekend is far too short a time. We’ll be back for an adult vacation again soon! Then we can better take advantage of the good food and music so plentiful!

Traveling with 9 & 11 year olds is great, they entertain themselves well, make friends everywhere they go and can actually take in some of the rides, etc. on their own! I can’t think of many places but PEI where I’d be comfortable letting my kids run off and return to my bench after I got tired out!

 

#peibound #fordescape

 

Drop me a note in the comments below, or connect with me on Twitter @ceilidhontherun, email me at trish at ceilidhontherun dot com, or use my contact form!

I invite you to subscribe to my blog using one of the options available on my page (email, rss, Google Connect, like my page on Facebook, etc.)

If you enjoyed this post, please do like/share it. You can do so using the easy share button below!