Open letter to ANIMAL PLANET
ANIMAL PLANET 2006 "HERO OF THE YEAR"
TRIP TO HAWAII!
What can I possibly say? On February 18th, my husband and I returned from our wonderful, unbelievable trip of nine days to Hawaii, courtesy of ANIMAL PLANET! I am still finding it hard to believe we were actually there! It was an amazing, thrilling, restful, and overwhelmingly appreciated trip for us! Our work here with wildlife is a "labor of love", and we wouldn't change a thing, but it has been almost impossible to consider a vacation like the one you gave to us! Due to the wonderful support of many of our dedicated volunteers who held down the fort and cared for our wildlife patients, we were able to take this fantastic opportunity and vacation!
Our itinerary scheduled us first to arrive on the island of Kauai, where we would spend four nights at the Marriott Resort. We were told to expect a nice hotel, but couldn't believe our eyes. The Resort was absolutely beautiful and exceeded our expectations in every way! In fact, the entire trip did. The beach was just beautiful and the surrounding scenery was spectacular. Your extra gift of providing a rental car allowed us to drive up to view the Waimea Canyon - a breathtaking place, and also allowed us to tour the island's many shops and restaurants. We met so many friendly locals and shared our story about ANIMAL PLANET's part in all of this! On our last night at Kauai, we experienced a real-life thriller, that turned out luckily to be just a great story to bring back home. It seems while we were enjoying a wonderful supper at the Resort at 9:00 p.m., an 8.4 earthquake had occurred off the coast of Japan. The hotel manager broke in over the intercom that we should all seek a higher elevation or go above the 4th floor of our hotel, since there was a Tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands until midnight. Gulp. Well, that earlier trip to the Waimea Canyon seemed like a good place to revisit - even in the dark. We grabbed pillows, some food and headed for the hills! Good fortune smiled on all of Hawaii and its people, though, and at 11:00 p.m., the warning was cancelled and we were able to return to our hotel. Somehow ~ now looking back ~ this event did add to the ambience of the whole trip, but I am sure we could have done without it, too!
Next morning was normal and with beautiful weather, as we hopped onto a small plane for an inter-island flight to Maui, where we would spend the next five nights! This part of our trip was even more wonderful and exciting! The Sheraton Resort was even more beautiful and we were supposed to have a garden view room, which was something to look forward to. When we arrived, our room was not yet ready, so we enjoyed walking around the gardens and beach while we waited for our room. The hotel management told us they had to change our room and that we would not be sorry, since it would be an "upgrade". Walking into our room where we would spend the next five nights, we found we would be enjoying an entire "ocean view suite"! Class all the way! Wow ~ the trip just kept getting more exciting and fun. No tsunamis on this part of the vacation. We went whale-watching and saw many humpback whales while we dined on our catamaran. We snorkeled in the ocean and saw an unbelievable world beneath the surface. We also walked the beaches and shopped 'til we dropped! The food was excellent throughout and the trip was a total thrill!
Thanks so much to everyone at ANIMAL PLANET for making all this possible. Everyone at ANIMAL PLANET have been so very helpful and planned a trip for us that was a fantastic dream vacation! We are still overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude.
Again, I am so honored to have been recognized and chosen by voters and ANIMAL PLANET to be the recipient of this award. This whole experience with all of you has been amazing and fun ~ and a highpoint in our lives! I am sure that ANIMAL PLANET's HERO OF THE YEAR in 2007 is in for the treat of their life!
Sincerely,
Mona RutgerBACK TO THE WILD®
Mona Rutger
4504 Bardshar Rd.
P.O. Box 423
Castalia, OH 44824Phone: 419-684-9539
Email: mona@backtothewild.com
Website: www.backtothewild.comBACK TO THE WILD®, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.
