Flag, You’re It: Traveling Olympic Bobsledder

Thanks to our friend Elana Meyers, a 2010 Olympic Bronze Medalist on the U.S. Women’s Bobsled Team, Flag Stanley has now ventured to one of Europe’s most picturesque countries: Austria.

After meeting Elana’s bobsled teammates at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Flag Stanley could not wait to hop on the plane and head back to Europe alongside Elana for her exciting World journey.

Known for its spectacular mountain scenery, Austria is also home to an Olympic bobsleigh track just southeast of the beautiful city of Innsbruck.

Here is Elana and Flag Staney in Igls, Austria, after Elana’s bobsled race at the track. With the support of Flag Stanley’s big cheers and laughs, Elana placed 2^nd and 3^rd in the US team’s races there. And when the winds started to get a little too strong, Flag Stanley did his best to keep Elana’s sled, Buddy, warm!

We look forward to seeing (and hearing about) Elana’s next big stop in Konigssee, Germany. Until then…Viel Glück!—or as we Americans say, “Good Luck!”

Flag, You’re It: Scotland

Julia Miller, a transplant nurse at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, escorted Flag Stanley on a Gaelic expedition through one of the United Kingdom’s finest countries, Scotland.

Happy to be back in Europe, Flag Stanley nearly folded with excitement at the opportunity to stay overnight in a castle. Castle Stuart, which was completed in 1625, lay deserted and neglected for 300 years before being restored into a luxury hotel. Flag Stanley enjoyed learning about the castle’s history, sharing a full Scottish breakfast with Julia and listening to the castle’s chilling ghost stories. Thankfully, Flag Stanley doesn’t scare easily.

The next stop took Flag Stanley to the Highlands of Scotland, where he and Julia saw a breathtaking and gorgeous rainbow. Even Flag Stanley had never seen such a view!

We tip our bagpipes to Julia for sharing Flag Stanley with the Celtic nation of Scotland.

Flag, You’re It: British Virgin Islands

Not counting the Jolie-Pitt brood, few people (or items) have done more traveling this summer than Flag Stanley. Thanks to Kim Reed, a manager at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Flag Stanley squeezed one more visit to the tropics into Summer 2011—this time, by way of a sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands.

The six-person/one-flag crew sailed for nine days aboard the S/V Marigot Rose and made stops at Tortola, Norman Island, Virgin Gorda, Marina Cay and Anegada. Tropical Storm Emily threatened to disrupt the voyage, but ultimately provided a welcome excuse to spend extra time at the Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda.

Thanks for letting Flag Stanley cruise with your crew, Kim!

Flag, You’re It: Abaco Islands of the Bahamas

With Fall just around the corner, Flag Stanley enjoyed seven days of flapping in the sun with the Overend family in Elbow Cay, a six-mile-long cay in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas. The family, including Mary Overend of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta marketing department and her sister Barbara McElhanon, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterology fellow at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, began vacationing in Elbow Cay more than 15 years ago.

Mary Overend (left) and Barbara McElhanon near the Hope Town Lighthouse. Barbara and her husband hosted a Bahamian wedding in 2008.

The Atlanta-to-Elbow-Cay journey involved two flights, a cab ride, a ferry trip, and a golf cart trek to the family’s vacation homestead. Flag Stanley’s first Bahamian photo was taken in front of Hope Town Lighthouse, which was originally built in the 1860s.

Time flies when you’re in the sun!

Flag, You’re It: Machu Picchu, the Equator and the Galapagos Islands

Thanks to the Carlos family—mom Helen, dad Jimmy and daughters Jordan and Drew—of Roswell, Ga., Flag Stanley recently flew where no transplant flag has flown before: Machu Picchu, the Galapagos Islands and at the Equator line.

The Carlos family and Flag Stanley overlooking Machu Picchu in Peru.

The Carloses are great friends of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta transplant program, so it came as no surprise when they extended an invitation for Flag Stanley to join them on the family’s summer vacation to the Southern Hemisphere.

The orange line marks the Equator in Quito, Ecuador. Helen and Drew (at left) are standing in the Southern Hemisphere, and Jimmy and Jordan (at right) are in the Northern Hemisphere. Flag Stanley is in both!

Beyond sharing their love of travel, Helen and Jimmy have also shared their passion for philanthropy with their daughters. Helen lends her voice as a member of the Children’s at Hughes Spalding Community Board, and Jimmy is a member of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation Board of Trustees.

Jimmy and Helen on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Islands with a Galapagos Tortoise, the largest living species of tortoise in the world.

From one of the New Seven Wonders of the World to a Galapagos Tortoise the size of a Mini Cooper, gracias por tomar Flag Stanley a Perú familia Carlos!

Flag, You’re It: Traveling Olympic Bobsledder

Elana Meyers, an Olympic Bronze Medalist on the U.S. Women’s Bobsled Team, has found a new teammate in the form of Flag Stanley.

Flag Stanley was on hand when Elana received her Master’s degree in Sports Management from the George Washington University in May 2011.

Elana soon took Flag Stanley to meet her bobsled teammates at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., (close to where he’d been just a few months prior). Coincidence knocked when Elana discovered that one of her teammates, Megan Hill, had been a patient at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in her youth.

Flag Stanley and the U.S. Women’s Bobsled Team

We look forward to seeing the next golden photo opportunity Elana finds for Flag Stanley!

Flag, You’re It: Liberia

Katie Young, a smiling face from the marketing department at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, led Flag Stanley on a week-long journey through Liberia, a country on the west coast of Africa.  In the city of Balama, Flag Stanley visited an elementary school and a children’s orphanage, sharing supplies like crayons, hats, books, stickers and construction paper along the way.

An elementary school in Balama, Liberia.

With Katie’s help, Flag Stanley taught the children to play kickball (which they call baseball) and American baseball, a sport that was entirely new to them.  A brutal civil war in Liberia, which ended in 2003, left many children orphaned and much of the country in destruction.

 

Here’s to Katie and Flag Stanley for spreading cheer from Atlanta to Africa!

Flag, You’re It: Philadelphia

Flag Stanley loved his trip to the Association of Health Care Journalists Conference in Philadelphia during Donate Life Awareness Month. Accompanied by Kevin McClelland, director of external communications for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Billy Ledford, renal finance coordinator at Emory Healthcare, Flag Stanley visited one of the City of Brotherly Love’s most iconic landmarks, Robert Indian’s LOVE sculpture in John F. Kennedy Plaza.

The design, famous for its Philadelphia roots, has been replicated around the world, including translations into Hebrew, Chinese, Italian and Spanish.

Thanks for taking your flag brother along for the ride to the fifth most populous city in the United States, Kevin and Billy!

Flag, You’re It: Winter Park, Colorado

Christine Rambo-Martin, a nurse who works with kidney and liver transplant patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, enjoyed a vacation to Winter Park, Colo., and took Flag Stanley along for the ride.

On spring break from Emory University’s graduate nursing program, Rambo-Martin spent a week skiing the Rockies and also caught some of the Wells Fargo Ski Cup benefiting the National Sports Center for the Disabled. The cup showcases athletes of all ability levels, including wheelchair skiers.

Though she had a great time in Colorado, Rambo-Martin also enjoys a “cool” job back home in Atlanta. “I care for young patients and their families in the hospital and get to watch them grow healthy and active–it’s extremely rewarding,” said Rambo-Martin.

Thanks for taking Flag Stanley along for the best part of any graduate student program–Spring Break!

Flag, You’re It: Italy

Just days after leaving Germany, Flag Stanley returned to the European continent to spend time under the Tuscan sun in central Italy.

By way of a shiny red convertible—and Heather Davidson, a project consultant at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta—Flag Stanley explored the Tuscan wine country.

After his week-long tour d’ pasta e pesto, Flag Stanley said arrivederci to the Italian countryside and grazie to the Davidsons.