The one place I knew the most about in Floyd was the Cafe del Sol, because of Colleen over at Looseleaf Notes.  She blogs about this charming coffee shop a lot and I easily found my way to it on Tuesday, our first day going into Floyd.  When I walked in, it was exactly as she'd described it and the photos she'd posted proved I was in the right place.  A businessman sat reading a newspaper, a couple of people were engrossed on their laptops because the Cafe has a wireless connection.  I met the owner, Sally, who was extremely friendly and of course, she knew Colleen.  The coffee was excellent and I returned again the next day for my caffeine treat.  Both the outside and inside of the shop had that eclectic feel to it.....bright colors, friendly people and good energy.

And on Thursday, the bloggers had made plans to get together.  I was the first to arrive and a woman purchasing coffee questioned, "Are you Terri?"  It was Gretchen, David St. Lawrence's wife.  He blogs at Ripples and they also live in Floyd.  Next to arrive was Fred First over at Fragments From Floyd.  And then....in walked Colleen and I knew her immediately, followed by Deana at Friday Night Fish Fry.  I also met Doug from Blue Ridge Muse and for about 20 minutes it was non-stop chatter, sometimes only catching half of what everyone was saying.  It was so great to finally meet the people whose words I sometimes read on a daily basis.  Gretchen, David and Fred had to leave and then Colleen, Deana and I settled down to some serious laptop stuff.  That's where I sent my blog from last week. 

I was able to catch the above photo of Gretchen and David (left to right) before they left and joining them in the photo is Deana and Colleen.

Most of us blogging people love cameras as much as we love words, so cameras were snapping like crazy and I managed to get a shot of Colleen and Deana together and below, the three of us allowed ourselves to look up briefly from our laptops for one more photo.

And so.....you're now wondering, well, what did you think of meeting them?  All of them were exactly as I thought they'd be.  Gretchen, David and Fred were very friendly and I only wish we'd had more time to spend together talking.  I got to spend the most time with Colleen and Deana and they too were exactly as I knew they would be.  The one big surprise was Colleen being so petite and short.....my goodness, she's just a little bitty thing and I kidded her that she photographs much taller.  I still detected a bit of that Massachusetts accent....she's originally from Hull, Mass.  I adored Deana's North Carolina accent and the surprise with her was learning I'd been mispronouncing her name all these months.  I thought it was pronounced Dee-Anna.....but it's not.  It's De-Na....but it didn't take long for me to get it right.  I immediately felt like I'd known both of them forever.....and I also knew they're the kind of women I'd love to have as friends.  I don't think any of us stopped talking for the entire hour and a half I was there.  I only wish we could have spent more time together.  But......it's quality.....not quantity.  And meeting them was very much quality.  Colleen and her husband, Joe, are planning to visit Cedar Key this winter and I can't wait to have them here and we can spend more time together.  I'm hoping Deana and her husband, Martin, will make it down to our island eventually also.

I may have mentioned before that when I wrote for Bonjour Paris, I met many people via the discussion boards on that site.  And when I'd go to Paris, I'd get to meet them in person.  I have to say.....unless somebody is truly not themself on a discussion group or on their blog, people are exactly as you thought they'd be when you meet them in person.  And we tend to gravitate toward people with like interests, which makes the meeting in person even more special.  But it still amazes me that one can meet somebody via words only and yet.....when you meet in person, you feel like you've known them forever.  That's definitely how it was with Colleen and Deana and I'm very happy to have made two new friends.

Join me tomorrow when I'll be wrapping it up on our trip with more photos and tidbits.  See you then.........