NTA PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TRIP
ARIZONA
FULL OF
FIRSTS
BY ANNA PETTUS
I WAS A NEWBIE to the U.S. Southwest
when I tagged along with a group of NTA
tour operators on the Arizona Product
Development Trip in November. I experienced many “firsts” throughout the week:
• My first time to see a cactus in the
wild (I have now seen hundreds.)
• First time eating a date (It’s a
fruit, so naturally I preferred mine
wrapped in bacon.)
• First time tasting a prickly pear
margarita (also my second time,
third time, fourth time … just kidding, kind of)
• My first time meeting the group of
operators I explored Arizona with
(my favorite “first”)
First stop: Tucson
Nicole Krekeler of Experience Scottsdale (left) and NTA’s Anna Pettus
take the mannequin challenge at Scottsdale’s Museum of the West.
24
January 2017
I had never been to a desert before, and
Tucson at times felt worlds away from
my hometown in Kentucky. Instead of
green hills, there are huge, red mountains and prickly, towering cacti. I
remember looking out the window of
our bus that first day with my mouth
hanging open as Brooke Hamlett of Visit
Tucson was saying, “Yeah, this is when
it starts to kind of look like we’re on a
different planet.”
We were on our way to the ArizonaSonora Desert Museum, and I had
plenty more “you’re not in Kentucky
anymore” moments in store.
Although the word “museum” is right
there in its name, the Arizona-Sonora
Desert Museum felt much more like
a zoo. We navigated winding paths
through desert plant life and animals
with a tour guide, who taught us tidbits
about our surroundings that, on our
own, we would have passed right by.
For instance, at one point he led us
up to a bush and instructed us to pluck
some leaves off, cup them in our hands