Welcome to Sunny California
After a long day of travel, I arrived at the Marriott’s – Burbank Hotel at about 11:30am (pacific time), with Joan and Mr. Miller. Waiting to greet everyone that walked in the hotel was Elyse Doerflinger of Elyse’s Genealogy Blog. She about flew out of her chair with each person that showed up. It was great to meet Elyse right away because we were rooming together for the weekend.
As soon as the Millers went to check in, Amy Coffin of We Tree arrived and we all decided to go across the street and have lunch at the Greek restaurant. It proved to be very yummy!
After lunch, Elyse was off to volunteer with kids camp and the rest of us got a chance to sit down and talk. Little by little more people began to arrive and Amy played the role of hostess for me. She introduced me to everyone that came through the doors. I have to tell you that this is a hugging group, even if they do not know you. They make you feel welcome and like family! Amy got a kick out of me trying to shake her hand when we were introduced!
While we hung out and waited for others, we watched the twitter feed because the storms in the midwest created havoc on many flights. Almost everyone seemed to be delayed.
I also got to meet Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist, Cheryl Palmer of Heritage Happens, Gini (her husband and granddaughter) of Ginisology, Tonia of Tonia’s Roots, Caroline Pointer of Family Stories and last, Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers.
Most of us got together for some adult beverages then went out to dinner at PF Changs and had a good time. It was nice to sit down and get to know one another. Thomas is the host with the most, he really has a knack for making everyone comfortable and making sure you are included in everything that’s going on. But, I bet you could have guessed that already!
After dinner, it was off to get comfy for the night, Friday was to start early for us. 8:15am for any tour that was scheduled. My few hours in CA had been great already and I could not wait to get this weekend started.
Met so many more people, Sheri Fenley of The Educated Genealogist (she is a hoot), The FootnoteMaven, Denise Levinick of The Family Curator, Susan Kitchens of Family Oral History Using Digital Tools, Kim von Aspern of LeMaisonDuchamp, Donna Pointkouski of What’s Past is Prologue, Elizabeth O’Neill of Little Bytes of Life. As you can see, there were many Genea Bloggers in attendance this year. About 70, I believe. What a group of people to hang out with! I had the absolute best time this weekend. Going into this, I never imagined I would have so much fun hanging out. My thought’s were of what I would learn while there, which I will write about soon.
