Amazing Adventures Travel & Recreation Expo

Hello all, it’s the weekend!

Having had a previous volunteering engagement canceled due to weather, my approach to wracking up those helpful hours has been a bit more cautious, especially where outdoor events are concerned.

Regardless, I was presented with an opportunity (through work of all things) to pitch in for a travel-related event. Imagine the ears of any kind of Anubis-eared animal perking up at that prospect and you might hit home to my reaction. 

I’m pretty sure I can’t technically call this volunteer work considering I got comp time for it, but I was up before the crack of dawn with a breakfast of tacon and boast, uniformed in a lime green “staff” shirt and soon hurtling down the freeway to Cherry Creek to make the 7 a.m. shift.

Infinity Park was to host the Amazing Adventures Travel & Recreation Expo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a slew of booths catering to a number of local and international expedition adventurers. Jeff Corwin would also be presenting about his tales from the field.

Infinity Park almost ready for guests during the Amazing Adventures Travel & Recreation Expo.

I had been slotted for two jobs, vendor setup until 9:30 a.m. and then monitoring the Main Exhibition tent for the remainder of the 5-hour shift, which translated to manual labor and water girl duties.

After locating my badge, which took me all over the wet rugby field and through the lounge where I consumed a jolt of coffee, I walked around asking vendors already loaded if they needed additional assistance in setting up. Most refused.  

Participants try their luck walking about a pool in an inflatable bubble ball.

I headed instead for the exhibitor load-in tunnel to see what I could do to help. Most of the guys driving the trucks muscled in for the loading from vendors’ vehicles, leaving the rest of us little to do. I eventually ended up stalking the trucks to their booths and helping them unload. When that stream ran dry, I found work helping one vendor (Morgan County) stuff gift bags. We had an assembly line going until they ran out of shirts—at which point I was offered one of everything from the stand, which included a T-shirt, sewing kit, lint brush, tool kit, car adaptor, magnifying bookmark, and bubble gum. I happily took the goodies and set them down in the Exhibitor’s Lounge with the rest of my things.

Jeff Corwin was there. Lots of guests asked me where they could find his first presentation during the expo.

I returned to Morgan County’s side of the tent to chat up the Wind River Hotel & Casino vendors because of a book that caught my eye. (It had a sepia-toned image of a Native American staring into your soul on the cover.) I mentioned my visit for this very reason and the author herself gave me a signed copy. The book features a wealth of Apache myths which I don’t know nearly enough about—so I was chuffed to receive the gift. As well as a $50 gift certificate to the Wind River restaurant, brochures and, of course, a fresh pack of cards. Only trouble is, they're located in Wyoming.

As the setup time lapsed into the round robin duties, I found myself switching roles between staff and attendee. Lots of vendors asked to have specific problems resolved—including canopy, electrical and mat requests—all of which I had to hunt down somebody with a radio for results. Guests asked for the location of a specific vendor, where first aid was and where to find the Jeff Corwin presentation. Only one complained to me about trouble finding handicap parking, which I also reported to an area captain. 

Kids color in T-shirts at the Keystone resorts vendor.

The remainder of the shift went to chatting up vendors, offering and securing water for thirsty parties, and participating in the fun. One of my working colleagues has video evidence of my slip down an inflatable slide. I also climbed the medium and hard sections of a 30-foot rockwall. The hard section was pretty intense because it had sharper angles and fewer footholds.

A climber takes on the hardest section of the rock wall.

I did in fact get caught up in the “travel” part of the expo, salivating over a number of touring magazines to everywhere in the world. Alaska, Japan, New Zealand. Yes, yes, yes. Even a guest overheard my summer plans and suggested the best ways to tackle trains in Europe. It was great! While I don’t think I would buy into a rigid tour program, I may model country-hopping and sight-seeing structures after a few of them. The trick is getting around on the cheap.

The volunteering opportunity, though very early in the morning (and paid), was a wonderful way to spend that morning despite the full working shift set immediately after the event. It made for a 14-hour day. But I enjoyed giving my time to folks who needed the help, outside in the sun on a glorious Saturday morning.

I can hardly wait to chart my next Amazing Adventure. 

Happy weekend.