The Traveling Elephant at Poas Volcano National Park in Costa Rica
Judy has been in the travel industry for almost 20 years as a certified travel planner and most recently as a travel and feature writer. She specializes in leisure travel and unique custom itineraries for individuals and groups. She also organizes and leads group tours. She is currently an independent contractor with Polk Majestic Travel Group.
An intense interest in African elephants developed when Judy served on the board of the Denver Zoo’s auxiliary in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. Ironically, her interest in African tourism evolved during the first of three tours she organized and led to the Monarch butterfly sanctuaries near Angangueo, Michoacán, México. The indigenous people in the region were dependent on the oyamel forests for their survival, destroying the delicate Monarch winter habitats at an alarming rate. She learned how the Government of México, in cooperation with worldwide conservation organizations, is encouraging Monarch tourism to replace the traditional sustenance for the local populace. The need to support similar tourism efforts in Africa to protect the endangered elephant habitats became abundantly clear. To that end, Judy is active in APTA, (Association for the Promotion of Tourism in Africa), a travel trade organization which promotes tourism to Africa and its islands through educating its members.
While Judy has not had the opportunity to see the African elephants in their natural habitat, it is most definitely on her “bucket list.” In March, 2011, Judy achieved one goal on her “bucket list:” Ziplining through a rainforest canopy in Costa Rica. Still to go is snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef.
Judy attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the University of Madrid, and Metropolitan State College in Denver, majoring in political science with a minor in journalism. A self-described “Jack of all trades,” Judy’s vocations and avocations have/do include import-export; catering; lingerie modeling (about 40 years and 65 pounds ago!); retail; political and community activism; and advocacy for people with disabilities. Her interests include writing; cooking; traveling; singing and performing at Denver’s Swallow Hill Music School; collecting African elephants; and walking and working out. Judy and her husband of 40 years are natives of the Chicago area, but have called Colorado “home” since 1976. She has two 20-something boys, one still waiting to be launched and the other a DJ and ramp supervisor with Frontier Airlines. The family’s runt female Golden Retriever, Teezer, thinks of herself as an Alpha male timber wolf.
