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Happy Autumn!
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Hello and welcome to the Arizona Raft Adventures' bi-annual e-newsletter. Now in its ninth year of publication, The V Wave (named after the legendary wave in Lava Falls rapid) keeps you connected with AzRA Grand Canyon, the river community, and the Canyon. If you have trouble viewing this email, please follow the link at the top of this message to view a web version.
This issue features a summary of the Foundation for Blind Children trip, a portfolio on guide Bill Mobley, details about our new Granite Adventure Club, a recipe for one of our most popular river desserts, and a free gift from us to you.
Lastly, don't forget the links to the left. These Grand Canyon related sites were chosen just for you.
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Foundation for Blind Children 2015 Adventure
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| | Photo Courtesy of Foundation for Blind Children |
This past June, the Foundation for Blind Children (FBC) gave Arizona Raft Adventures the honor of being their preferred outfitter for a Grand Canyon rafting adventure!
FBC is a non-profit organization that provides services and education for the blind and visually impaired. Part of their curriculum is offering challenging adventures for their students to participate on.
This year's excursion was five days of rafting and exploring the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, five nights of camping, and ended with a 7.5 mile hike out of the Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. You can read more about their adventure and testimonials from some of the students by visiting our blog.
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5th Annual Images of Grand Canyon Contest
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| 2014 Grand Prize Winner "Crenellation" by Rex Naden
Contest Theme:
Grand Canyon in Motion |
This year's Images of Grand Canyon Contest theme is
"Fun in the Sun"!
Share your photos, paintings and sketches of the joy and excitement of Grand Canyon rafting trips.
The Grand Prize Winner will receive $500 off their next rafting trip with AzRA, and the winning image will also be featured on our 2015 seasonal card.
Submissions are due by 11:59pm October 1, 2015
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Granite Adventure Club
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AzRA greatly values the loyalty of our repeat guests. In the past we have shown our appreciation by offering trip discounts and sending out birthday and holiday cards, but we decided it was time to do more. Introducing the "Granite Adventure Club"!
To become a member, you need to build a travel history with us of four or more trips (High Desert and Moki Mac trips do count). When you book your fourth trip, you become a Granite Adventure Club member and will receive lifetime benefits including:
- 10% lifetime discount on your regular priced space
- 10% discount for one additional guest traveling with you
- Additional 5% discount on any discounted trips
- Pre-booking, in which you will be notified by email before we open the next season
- 10% discount on all of your Red River Sports purchases (for online purchases, use promo code "GAC")
- A welcome gift, to be received at your pre-trip orientation
- Bi-annual newsletter
- One-time cancellation benefit*
We would like to thank all of our GAC members for their continued support, loyalty, and referrals. We look forward to seeing you on your next AzRA adventure!
*One-time cancellation benefit explanation: each Granite Adventure Club member is eligible for one deposit transfer for one reservation. This one-time transfer must be used within three river seasons. Additionally, the transfer must be used for the same amount of spaces as was originally booked. For example, an $800 deposit must be used for a group of two-if only a party of one books within three years, only $400 will be transferred to the new reservation.
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"Big Cookie" Recipe
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| | Photo By: Margeaux Bestard |
The Big Cookie is an AzRA favorite and it's relatively easy to make. We use the Ghirardelli triple chocolate cookie mix, which can be purchased at Sam's Club. Use three packages of mix, three eggs and ½ lb butter. Mix well and then press into the bottom of a greased Dutch oven. On the river we use a 14" Dutch oven with 4-6 briquettes underneath and 12-15 on top. You might have to play with the briquette count as each guide does it a bit different. Once you start the cooking process, it takes only about 30 minutes, or just a little after you can smell it, until the cookie is done!
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Guide Portfolio - Laura Fallon
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| | Laura Fallon Photo By: Charles C. |
Laura Fallon began guiding for AzRA in 2001. She currently guides both motorized and oar trips, and prefers rafting in the month of September to any other time in the Canyon. She loves the adventure of running Lava Falls, and her other favorite rapids include Serpentine, Granite and Crystal.
Laura was born on the East Coast in 1972 and attended high school at Andover High. She then attended Mt. Holyoke College where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Politics. Laura is a Yoga instructor as well, and is passionate about sharing yoga experiences with guests on her trips. Her enthusiasm for yoga is contagious, and each season AzRA runs a Yoga Retreat trip so that guests of all abilities can really immerse themselves in Grand Canyon yoga sessions with Laura . Other than the Colorado River through Grand Canyon, Laura loves rafting on the Salt River and the Penobscot River in Maine. When we asked what she enjoys the most about guiding in Grand Canyon, Laura replied, "The people. The passengers, the guides, the community in general." We also asked what was the best or most interesting gift she had ever received from a guest, to which she enthusiastically answered, "A puffy winter jacket from Shan, the cookie man!"
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A Free Gift Just for You!
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They say when it seems too good to be true, that it usually is. But this time, it really is free and it's our gift to you with no strings attached. The Grand Canyon River Runners Association
(GCRRA) is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to protecting your right to raft the Grand Canyon with an outfitter. GCRRA strives to keep commercial guests connected with major issues facing the Grand Canyon. In addition, GCRRA is involved in several projects including a wildlife census program (featured in the April 2013 V Wave) and being a sponsor of a Grand Canyon rafting trip in August of 2015 for the United States Marine Corp Wounded Warrior program. One of the greatest accomplishments of the GCRRA is the half-yearly newsletter called the Grand Canyon River Runner. You will receive this beautiful color print publication in your mailbox.
We encourage all of our guests to continue advocating for the Grand Canyon and we would like to offer you a complimentary 1-year GCRRA membership. It's easy, it's fast, it's free and you can be a vital resource for making sure future generations have the opportunity to raft the Grand Canyon in the same pristine fashion as you experienced.
Activate your free one-year membership today and begin enjoying the benefits of being a member of GCRRA.
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We are available for free Skype to Skype international phone calls during our regular business hours. Our contact name is arizona.raft.adventures.
Before we close this issue of The V Wave, we would like to remind you that AzRA has several social media sites in operation featuring up-to-date news information, video clips, trip planning tools, photos and topics that are just plain fun!
or you might even be interested in articles on our Blog 
Once again we would like to thank you for taking time to read our newsletter and for giving us river seasons full of wonderful memories. We hope you will choose to continue receiving this publication so we may stay connected. In fact, we appreciate input; if you have suggestions for future newsletters such as article topics, river stories, photos, poetry, or artwork to share, please email us.
See you downstream!
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(Arizona Raft Adventures, Grand Canyon Discovery and Moki Mac River Expeditions are concessioners
under contract with the U.S. Government and administered by the National Park Service.)
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