An Experience Of A Lifetime!!!!!

Recently I had an incredible opportunity to do a little bit of traveling.  One of the most fantastic places on earth to visit is the West,  Utah to be exact.  The landscape is absolutely magnificent and the mountains seem to blend in with the sky creating the most serene feeling a person could ever have.

Nestled into the southern part of Utah there is a little town called Kanab.  Lying on the border about 30 minutes from Fredonia, Arizona, it’s a quaint little town with a grocery store, a gas station and several locally owned restaurants.  Right in the heart of Angel Canyon, Kanab Utah is also home to the largest animal sanctuary in the world…Best Friends Animal Society.  Best Friends boasts 3800 acres of land plus another 30,000 acres of wild life preserve, and some of the nicest people you ever want to meet and honorably call “friend”.

About a year and a half ago, when I was contemplating adding another rescue bird to my family, I contacted Best Friends to inquire about a Hyacinth Macaw they had for adoption.  I promptly got a call back from a very nice man named Steve Scheurich who was head of Operations at the Parrot Garden at Best Friends.  Sadly that lovely Hyacinth already had a new home but fortunately it was a good one (and I found Chloe anyway!!).  However, that phone call started my journey and my great friendship with one of the most intelligent men I know.  I finally got to meet Steve (in person) this year and his phenomenal staff.  May I say I was thoroughly impressed with the standards of excellence that was presented to me.  We exchanged ideas, information and yes… the feeding concept of CHOP!!  When I saw the astronomical amounts of vegetables that were being cut up I took  control of the refrigerator and that was the end of that!!  Step aside boys…I’m about to show you a fantastic little trick!! Haha!!!  I gave Steve a great piece of reading material…Parrot Nation authored by Patricia Sund, the founder of the CHOP concept.  I then gave everyone a little demonstration on how to make CHOP and POOF!!!  The Parrot Garden at Best Friends Animal Society has converted all the birds to the CHOP concept!!!  Way to go guys!!!

While I was there spending the day at the Parrot Garden with everyone, Steve conveyed to me if I ever needed someone to cover seminars or a speaker on rescue and rehabilitation to keep him in mind…well…with Tapestry Of Nations 2010 coming up in January, how could I pass an offer like that up???  Oh my goodness!!!  An icon!!  At my event!!  Between Patricia Sund being there with Parker, Pepper and Mattie the dog and now Steve Scheurich from the Parrot Garden at Best Friends!!!  I am sure to have a spectacular event!!!  Got to love networking!!!

All in all my trip to Kanab, Utah was  a productive one.  There is still alot of my trip I have not written down but as the information becomes available, I will share it and pass it along to my blog followers.    It’s kinda one of those trips that you come home feeling rejuvenated and can’t wait to see what the next turn in life is going to be…there’s alot out West for me that needs to be explored.  I’m thinking the Springtime would be the perfect time to start that exploration…we’ll see.  My time spent there was very eye-opening and the people are just kind and generous…REAL people!!!

For now, I am content knowing I have great friends like Steve and Patricia.  The honesty and the true meaning of friendship cannot be anymore defined for me then in both of them.  They are two of the greatest people I know and the awesome favor they are doing for me on January 16th will be hard to repay.  Thank you to you both for honoring me and my co-workers at Petco in Naples, Florida for the Tapestry Of Nations.  It will be an event that people will remember for a very long time!!!