Up until the week before I had mixed feelings about going to FitBloggin’ 15. Yes, I loved this conference in 2013 (Portland) and 2014 (Savannah) but wasn’t very excited about the agenda. What did excite me was seeing, hugging and communing with friends. I wasn’t disappointed.
Pre-Conference
After the usual pre-conference preparation it was finally time to travel to Denver. I had a pass for the United Club lounge and had breakfast there. It was nothing exciting but the price was right. The best part was a coffee machine reminiscent of the ones we used in Italy which made expresso drinks.
My flight left on time and was uneventful. Unfortunately, the travel day didn’t go that way for lots of people including the person I had planned to share the taxi ride. 🙁 I took the Super Shuttle which was fine except I was next to last being dropped off out of 12 people.
My room was on the 14th floor and had pretty nice views!
Have you heard of altitude sickness? I had it years ago on a trip to Denver and did my best to avoid a repeat by hydrating all week.
It worked and although water was always available in the meeting area I really appreciated the two free bottles placed in the room daily.
By this time it was after noon and I was ready for lunch. Denise and I went to the Corner Bakery which was in the same building as the Westin. We had salads as we knew there would be plenty of carbs at our first event.
Afternoon Tea
Sarah started a new tradition last year by setting up an afternoon tea. I missed out last year due my personal schedule but was excited to attend in Denver. We set off in three groups: one walked the entire trek, the second group took the free 16th street mall bus half the way and the third ubered it.
I was in the second group and we still got in about a mile each way. This was the most scenic part of the walk.
The House of Commons tea room is very cute!
We selected our individual tea from a impressive menu. After a while our tower of treats arrived.
We had four types of sandwiches (curried chicken salad, roast beef with horseradish mayo, cucumber, cheese)….
Two types of scones (served with jam, lemon curd and Devonshire Cream) and topped off with shortbread cookies and petit fours. It was delicious and so fun to go with this great group of people.
We reversed our steps to get back to the hotel. I didn’t return right away because I had to find an iPad charging cord. It would have been easy if I had a newer iPad but finding the old style charging cord was quite difficult. Radio Shack came to the rescue!
When I got back to the hotel Sarah helped me get my Fitbloggin’ Jamberry nail wraps on. I had bought them a few months back but didn’t know how to get them on.
There were many of us wearing them and it was fun to see the different pattern combinations!
It was time to go to the icebreaker/opening reception. We decorated our name badges with a different twist from previous years. This time, we put color coded stickers on the badges indicating which years we’ve attended FitBloggin’.
We also had an icebreaker which really got people interacting (like we needed help 🙂 ) ! That’s how I met Miss Ashley!
It’s fun meeting new people. Ashely blogs at Journey for Second Chances. In addition to the icebreaker, there was a conga line, food and beverages. Denise and I snuck out after a couple of hours and had dinner before calling it a night.
Oh man, I was supposed to have two free bottles of water each day? I only had one when I checked in and then we turned down housekeeping service for our stay (one of their “green world” initiatives) so I never even saw anyone from housekeeping staff again – darn!
It was great spending time with you for a few days, I miss our Saturday morning meetups. Are you going to the Athleta blogger event this Saturday morning?