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As
I told you Saturday
Diana
and I spent the weekend with industry friends
visiting the 5th
Annual Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance
antique and exotic car show hosted by Jay
Leno at Florida's Boca Raton Resort.
The three day event that raised an estimated $1
million for local Boys and Girls Clubs
kicked off with a DuPont
Registry Hangar Party at Boca
Aviation Friday night. It concluded Sunday
(Feb. 27) with a spectacular car and motorcycle
show held on the Resort's golf course in ideal
80-degree weather.
Above:
Fabulous cars from every era from
pre-World War I to the current day drew a big
crowd
to the Boca Raton Resort Sunday for the
city's 5th Annual Concours d'Elegance. Below
(left to right): Diana Jackson, Howard
Neu and Barbara Neu
check out a row of new Lamborghinis.
Tonight
Show host Jay Leno - one of
America's biggest car buffs - headlined the
event (including a gala dinner Saturday night)
and personally judged many of the entries. Jay
mingled with the crowd throughout the day and I
never saw him turn down a photo request from any
of the hundreds of fans who asked for one.
Above:
Jay Leno films an interview Sunday at the
Boca Raton Resort
(Photo courtesy of Barbara Neu). Below:
Domain King Rick Schwartz (at right), who
lives in Boca Raton, was among
those I caught on camera with the King of Late
Night TV.
Whatever
you wanted to see - classic Corvettes or Thunderbirds,
rare Ferraris, Lamborghinis or Aston
Martins, American muscle cars, Duesenbergs,
Chryslers and Cadillacs from the
20's and 30's or anything in between, it was on
display at this amazing show.
Above:
This lovely lady let Barbara Neu take a shot of
me with her and her classic
Cadillac convertible (both the car and
the lady were as beautiful and classy as they
come). Below:
Howard Neu (who just re-launched his
domain industry blog with
an appropriate new name - Neu's News - at
NeusNews.com
naturally -
drools over his dream car - a classic red Jaguar
XKE.
Over
the course of the weekend we enjoyed spending
time with domain industry friends Howard and
Barbara Neu, Ray Neu, Rick
Schwartz, Chad Folkening and Bianka
Krausch. Mike and Judi Berkens, who
live nearby, had also planned to come out but
regrettably had to cancel at the last minute and
we certainly missed seeing them. While
we were in town, I asked Howard and Barbara if
they could give us a tour Saturday of the Ritz
Carlton on Fort Lauderdale Beach
where Howard and his partner Rick Schwartz will
be staging their next T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference Oct. 16-19, 2011. Having been
to almost all of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows, I can
tell you that I think this is going to be the
best venue ever for the event.
The
Ft. Lauderdale Beach Ritz Carlton will
host the next T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference
in October. The
hotel has a remarkably unique cantilevered
design modeled after a cruise ship. This
allows the Atlantic Ocean to dominate the
incredible view from every level of the hotel.
See the shot of the pool I took below. Though it
is several stories above the street, you see
nothing but ocean and palm trees in one of the
most stunning vistas I have seen anywhere. The
Ritz is also right in the middle of all of the
action downtown - making it an ultra convenient
location for conference goers. I also visited
the hotel's rooms, cabanas and conference facilities
(all of which overlook the beach and ocean) and
will put together a more detailed view of the
venue and surrounding area for you at a later date.
The
pool at the Ft. Lauderdale Beach Ritz Carlton
Speaking
of conferences, the first Rocky
Mountain Domain Conference was held
in Denver Saturday (Feb. 26) and I am
hearing good things about the inaugural event
staged by Mike Law. Brian Diener
had a nice
recap, provided by Rick Waters,
on his blog today. Tomorrow
evening (March 1), one of the industry's longest
running shows, Domain
Roundtable, gets underway at the Atlantis
Resort in the Bahamas. The
conference, staged by Thought
Convergence, runs through
Thursday night and you can always count on TC to
give their guests an unforgettable
experience.
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