I really wanted to see a giraffe but...

When I moved to Utah in August 2010, one of the first things I did as a westerner was travel from Salt Lake to Portland, Oregon for the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC).  My advisor (or who I hoped at the time would become my advisor) gave me a code to get signed up for the conference, I booked a hotel room in a nearby hotel, and planned my road trip.

Multnomah Falls, 2010

You may or may not know that for two years before I moved to the West, I worked as a Drive Vacation Specialist (later known as a Travel Sales Specialist II) at AAA Carolinas.  I had the opportunity to plan road trips for a variety of clients heading out on the road to see our beautiful country.  I was secretly jealous of several of the trips I planned for going to places I was dying to visit but wasn't sure when I'd ever have the time or money to visit.  Portland was one of those places.

Mt. St Helens National Volcanic Monument, September 2010

The Portland ESTC conference was really the first conference I'd been to as a "professional" so to speak.  I met people there that I still keep in contact with today.  I extended my visit and took a day to drive to Mount St Helens National Monument 30 years after the eruption (I am the daughter of a science teacher, after all, who was teaching Earth & Environmental Science at the time, you pick up things over the years).  Two very important things happened on this trip:  I got involved with The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) and realized that I love the Pacific Northwest.

My little buddy from Mt. St. Helens

The reason for this little walk down memory lane is because my involvement with TIES has continued and grown stronger since 2010.  The 2011 Conference was held in Hilton Head, SC and I was able to attend as a conference volunteer.

ESTC 2011 Crew -- L to R:  Julie, Mercedes, Aine, Me, Dru

I was involved in 2012 with the ESTC again, this time as the volunteer and event coordinator.  I was responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training all the volunteers who helped out with ESTC12 in Monterey. (I added in the event coordinator side because there a lot of "other duties as assigned" once the conference got going and I didn't think volunteer coordinator covered everything).  I had an awesome group of people to work with (I don't care if that makes me sound like I'm bragging on myself!  I'm the one who found them and brought them onboard, so there!).  Monterey was a fabulous host destination!!

ESTC 2012 Volunteer Crew Photo Courtesy of Julie Harper

So that leads us to this summer (which just ended mind you, we are officially in Autumn), where I started working for TIES as the Communications Director.  ESTC13 starts on September 24 in Nairobi, Kenya.  I was supposed to have flown to Nairobi on Sept. 18.  Because we didn't know what the situation was going to be with Wilbur when decisions had to be made, I am still in the United States, safely in Salt Lake City.  I know that my team made it safe and sound to Nairobi and to the conference venue, the Safari Park Hotel.  On Friday, a few members of the team even got to go see some wildlife (No, I'm not pouting too much, I promise).

Giraffe, photo credit Amanda Gardner

But after the horrific and crazy hostage situation that took place over the weekend, I'm thinking that things always happen the way they do for a reason. (If you have no clue what I'm talking about, have you been under a rock this weekend?  Anywho, here's a link to the CNN Updates).  My heart goes out to the families of the deceased and injured.  My prayers go out for the safety of the last remaining hostages who will hopefully be freed in the near future.  So, from now until the end of the month (which is when my team will arrive back in the United States), I'm asking that anyone reading this please say some additional prayers for the TIES team in Nairobi and the ESTC13 delegates who are traveling in from 40 countries worldwide.


UPDATE ::  October 1, 2013

I am super happy to report that the ESTC13 conference went off without a hitch!! We've been getting a lot of positive feedback from attendees about the conference.  I am also happy to report that all of my coworkers arrived safely back in the US of A!!!

We're ready for the next chapter!  Bonito, Brazil here we come!!