Posted By Wayne on March 2, 2010

Have you ever wanted to have a personal travel expert at your side when you arrived at a new destination?  This travel expert would be available to help you enjoy your vacation and personalize your trip to your interests, your level of fitness, your comfort zone.  I have, many times wished for that very thing.  Peter Greenberg comes to mind when I think of a travel expert.  He, in my mind, is “Mr. Travel”.

I can remember getting of an airplane at a location and thinking where should I go first?  What should I see and do?  What’s the best thing to see and do at this location?  How may I maximize the time I have here.

Well I have found the perfect place that answers all of my questions.  This place has the knowledge of experts from many fields that have been there - - done that.  They have walked in the footsteps of the explorers in the area.  They have experienced the adventures the area is known for.  They have searched out the best of the best and will be your personal travel expert on your next trip.

Forty years ago I asked the same questions.  I was frustrated when visiting a new location by having to do hours and hours of research before I departed from my home to make sure I did not miss anything in the area to which I was traveling.  So for the last forty years, I have been cataloging all of my adventures into a file that I am now willing to share with my fellow travelers.  I have attracted to me people as dedicated to immersing themselves in the area as I am dedicated.  I have found many places off the beaten path that are gems and I now want to share them with you. I have experienced the adventures personally and am anxious to share them with you.

I remember one time I got off the plane in Rapid City, South Dakota, knowing no one in the area, not knowing much about this area except that Rapid City sits at the base of the Black Hills and the Black Hills are home to Mount Rushmore National Park.  My first few hours of bumbling around in Rapid City trying to figure out what I should do first, where I should go, where should I stay. Many other questions were flying around in my head.  I thought to myself, I wonder if there is a local I might talk to to help me figure out answers to my questions.  A personal Concierge was what I was looking for.  Not knowing were to go or where to look for this type person, I went to the local visitors bureau.  This was a bit of a help, however, they had so much information, upon departing the bureau, I was still in a quandary.

I’m sure you have been in my exact shoes with this experience.  Loving travel and traveling all over the western U.S. in the last forty years, I have learned to refine my search of an area before I climb on the plane.   Today I have a huge personal database of information about most areas in the West.  Now when I travel, I refine my search even more to find new places, new things, new experiences and of course new people to meet and bring into my information base.

Here is my gift to you, I am going to share my huge database of travel information with all you travelers to the West through my new web site: http://www.experientialjourneys.com

This new web site is dedicated to give you, dear traveler, a special place to go to get a hands-on experience and a immersion into the area you wish to experience.  This is not just another sightseeing tour.  This is not another tour operator trying to fill a coach.  This is a true once in a lifetime experience designed only for you.  If you are ready to step away from the crowd and try a one of a kind adventure, this is for you.  Check us out, make me preform miracles for you; you will have something no one else will have, a true experience, designed especially for you!  Are you ready for the adventure?

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Posted By Wayne on February 3, 2010

Over the years - 24 - that I have been sharing my love of the Southwest with visitors from all over the world, I have heard this question asked or some version of it hundreds of times.  With Canyon West being opened in the last few years and it being only a couple hours drive from Las Vegas, the question has become more prevalent.

The answer is unequivocally ARIZONA!

People from all over the world travel to visit the Grand Canyon.  The two closest major gateway cities to the Grand Canyon are Phoenix and Las Vegas.  Both are also major tourist hubs with international flights bringing tourists from all over.  Both cities advertise they are the gateway to the Grand Canyon.  Over the 20 plus years I have watched these two cities duke it out to attract foreign visitors, I have seen Las Vegas grow in popularity.

It seems to me Las Vegas has built its entertainment industry by building one monster hotel and casino after another; they also continue to grow the amount of advertising money they spend on their attractions, one of which is the Grand Canyon.

Barry Aarons, lobbyist for the Arizona Tourism Alliance, said there’s more than just pride involved in having it known world wide that Arizona is the Grand Canyon State.  He cited a survey done more than a decade ago of foreign visitors to the Grand Canyon.

“Seventy-one percent think the Grand Canyon is in Las Vegas,’ he said.

That, he said, is not surprising.

He said many of the tours of the canyon, both by air and bus, originate in Las Vegas. And he said, that may lead foreign visitors to believe that the canyon is simply an extension of the city on its far outskirts.

This has led to a movement to officially declare Arizona the Grand Canyon State with Arizona State lawmakers taking the first steps Tuesday to officially declaring Arizona “The Grand Canyon State” - - quick, before Nevada claims it!

The push for HB 2447 follows the discovery by Marshall Trimble, the state historian, that the phrase that appears on license plates, tourist brochures and even signs welcoming visitors to Arizona actually has no official status. And Trimble said he discovered that only because a school girl asked him about it.

“So I made a promise to this girl that I would see what I could do,’ Trimble told members of the House Government Committee. He convinced Rep. Sam Crump, R-Anthem, to sponsor the required legislation.

“With our centennial coming up, it would be a nice gift to the people of Arizona,’ Trimble said. Arizona became a state on Feb. 14, 1912″.

Let’s all give Marshall Trimble a hand in promoting this through the Arizona legislature by writing letters to the editor, commenting on this blog and any others talking about this bill and talking it up to all we meet.  Let’s give our children and our children’s children the legacy that Arizona is truly the Grand Canyon State.

To add legitimacy to this claim, all 277 miles of the Grand Canyon National Park are in the state of Arizona, so what better way to claim it than by making it official?

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