How treasured is my valley? 

I received an e-mail yesterday from Kellie Kluksdal from the Idaho Department of Tourism giving me a heads up on the launch of their 2010 promotional campaign, “Adventures in Living.”  The concept behind the campaign, which the Department is producing in partnership with venerable Idaho ad agency Drake Cooper, is based on “bringing a real-life Pacific Northwest family to Idaho to experience a 10-day adventure vacation.”  Kellie and her team were gracious enough to invite the media to share in the behind-the-scenes action as the story unfolds, and the rest of us can follow along via Twitter.  For those of you who enjoy living vicariously, this should be a lot of fun.

The Department’s efforts to promote our state reminded me of a couple of folks I’ve recently met who are also engaged in celebrating the splendor of Idaho, albeit in very different ways.  If you read my blog post from December 2008 (have I really been writing this stuff for that long?), “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”, you already know that I have a tremendous curiosity and profound respect for folks who are willing to tilt at windmills in pursuit of their passions.  In the course of their quixotic journeys, some of them even create viable businesses.  So in this week’s blog, I’d like to acknowledge two more “Kenneths”: George Condit and Chris Oates – each of whom share a mission in common with the Idaho Department of Tourism.

George Condit has followed a fairly typical career path to date, as yet another New Yorker who came to Idaho following a stint in the Army as a Russian linguist/electronics warfare specialist turned masonry contractor turned MBA grad turned consultant.  His latest endeavor is the creation of tour packages designed to introduce Idaho locals and visitors alike to his own particular take on “adventures in living”. 

Imagine, if you will, purchasing a ticket that gets you into this Sunday’s “Savor Idaho” event at the Idaho Botanical Gardens, then whisks you away by bus to a tour of three area wineries, complete with tastings, treats, and live music.  (Hint: for those of you wondering what to get the old man for Father’s Day, check out this link and ensure your rights of primogeniture).  You can listen to George’s story and learn more about his upcoming wine tour via my podcast interview with him. As an aspiring media mogul, I have to stand in awe of Chris Oates, a former HP employee who has created what is arguably the uber-aggregator of all things politics, food, and booze in the Treasure Valley.  Last week, Chris released the latest version of his site, Treasured Valley.  His description of the website says it better than I can:

Well, just consider it your personal Treasure Valley RSS reader with a little bit more flare. On Treasured Valley.com you’ll find updates about the Treasure Valley in the morning, afternoon and sometimes in the evening. We pull links from all kinds of websites around the Treasure Valley, from the biggest in print media, the biggest in broadcast media, the most random of individual bloggers and everything, or everyone in between.

Suffice it to say that if I were marooned on a desert island with access to only one online source of all things Treasure Valley, I’d point my browser to Chris’ site.  You should as well.   

Both George Condit and Chris Oates do what they do because they love where they live, and they want to share that love with whoever wants to experience it – one glass of vino or blog post at a time.  They also represent that new and growing breed of social media denizens who reject the notion that you have to be a brick and mortar entity, or even a state agency, to be a credible information source.  In their own unique ways, as they invest the capital of time and heart, their endeavors form part of the pattern that the Idaho Department of Tourism and Drake Cooper are also contributing to through the resources at their disposal.  Collectively, they all weave a gorgeous tapestry of what living in Idaho is all about.  Esto perpetua, my friends.   

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