This was another fun class with lots of wonderful folks to meet and it was extra exciting because it was in my neighborhood! With my local Waterville Valley Region Chamber of Commerce Board Member hat on, I was able to help coordinate the luncheon that was sponsored by my good friends at Chesley's Pizza & the Golden Eagle Lodge (love those guys!).

A big surprise at the training was a special presentation that the White Mountain National Forest Service made to Judi and the Granite State Ambassadors to commemorate our partnership. What an honor! The beautiful plaque was hand-carved by Bill Dauer, Forest Engineer/Tech Services Team Leader at the WMNF who gave an enthusiastic and detailed tour of their incredible new 'green' headquarters. I found a presentation online that Bill gave with a virtual tour of the facility. Click here to download it and learn more.

For the training, I also had a hand in selecting the speakers for the Attractions and Heritage module (thanks White Mountain Mikey & Joe Collie for your help!). I, of course, have to now give my own shameless plugs and thank yous to these year-round local attractions: Waterville Valley Resort; Loon Mountain Resort; Mount Washington Auto Road; Muddy Paws Dog Sled & Raft NH; and Alpine Adventures Zip Line & Off Road. We even got to see Loon's Segways in action and they gave out some real live Loon snowballs as prizes. Another highlight was meeting Cole, a retired sled dog from Muddy Paws. It was really interesting to hear about their husky rescue operation too.

We've posted the WMNF Class of 2012 training photos -- Take a peek!

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!
~Kelly

We've been going round and round trying to find the best solution to keep educational tour attendance fair for all GSAs while making sure our hosts receive the intended exposure that leads to GSA referrals at the state's welcome and information centers.

All tours will have a specific "open" date and time for sign-ups. These dates will be announced as soon as we have the information available even if it begins with a 'Save the Date' notice.

To maintain that tours are educational opportunities and not perks, tours are only open to ELIGIBILE GSAs. To be considered 'ELIGIBLE', you must have 50 volunteer service hours, 16 of those in the last 6 months - unless otherwise designated. Each tour will have hours requirements that will drop at the following intervals. These will happen automatically and may not coincide with a newsletter release so please mark your calendars accordingly.

Exactly three weeks prior to any tour, at the same time as the scheduled 'start' time, all attendance requirements will drop by half. All seats obtained at this point will count towards your annual 4 limit.

Exactly two weeks prior to any tour, at the same time as the scheduled 'start' time all attendance requirements will be dropped and any remaining seats are open to all active GSAs. All seats obtained in this two week period will not count towards your annual 4 limit.

All tours will close one week prior to start date.

**GSA Activities such as parties, Ambies Awards etc are NOT considered tours and are open to all GSAs with no restrictions.


The Rock'n Rib Fest is still looking for active GSAs to volunteer. After your shift, take a stroll around the grounds and get your mitts on some seriously messy and yummy grub!

Click image to view