One of the many blogs I follow is that of Paul Maxim, a photographer who resides in Rochester, NY. Paul and his wife Barbara have been on a month-long adventure around the country. A few days ago I read on Paul’s blog that he was going to be in Charleston, SC so I sent him an e-mail suggesting that if he was going to be passing through Charlotte to give me a call. As it turned out, he was and he did!
So Thursday night, Kathy & I joined up with Paul & Barbara and Earl & Bonnie Moore for dinner. It was nice to meet Paul & Barbara in person, talk a little about photography, a lot about travel and retirement, and had some good food as well.
I’ve only gotten to meet a few of my virtual friends in person, but I’ve found that so far I like them even more in person than I do by seeing only the slice of them that they show online. There are a bunch of interesting people in this world and I feel privileged to have met a few of them!
Excellent. I’m glad that you folks had a good time. I was having a Spanish lesson at the time. 🙂
We missed you Paul!
Thanks for making this happen, Tom. It was great meeting Paul and Barbara…too bad they live so far away. Meeting each other does add another deminsion to reading and commenting on each other’s blogs.
Sorry for the quality of the photo…my four generation old iPhone 4 doesn’t have much of a good camera. 🙂
Well Earl, your camera obviously did a better job than mine! I’ve had that happen a few times, usually when I was trying to take a photo that I really wanted. Must be stress related!
Now that is a cool shot. I also have had the chance to meet up with a few photo bloggers and have loved each one. Looks like a great time!
Thanks, Monte. I for one am looking for the group shot that includes Monte Stevens!
Yes, I would like that very much. I was able to meetup with Paul and Earl while on one of my overnights in Charlotte back in 2010. We only had time for dinner and photo. Here’s the link on Paul’s site: http://www.paullesterphoto.com/wordpress/2010/08/02/three-amigos-triple-threat-or-double-trouble-plus-one/
I can only say that Barb and I are really glad that we were able to meet you guys. We had a great time – good food and new friends (all with a great sense of humor!). Not hard to tell who the old guy in the picture is, though. It’ll be a sad day when we can’t go on these little “adventures” anymore.
A little story about what happened after we left the restaurant: I was looking for the turnoff back to our hotel and thought I’d gone past it. So I saw what looked like a small parking lot and turned into it to turn around. Well, it wasn’t a parking lot. It was the northbound entrance to I-77. Dumb. About 6 miles later I was finally able to turn around and head back. Again, really, really dumb.
Thanks again Tom for setting this up. It truly was one of the highlights of our trip.
Paul, I’m really glad I saw your post about being in Charleston and thought to send you a note, and it’s great that it worked out that we were able to make time to meet up with you and Barbara. I’ve found that making the extra effort is often rewarded with a good friendship or at least a good meal! And I’m very glad to hear that it was one of the highlights of your trip – that makes it even more worthwhile!
I understand completely how confusing things can be around that freeway exit. Just a few years ago that was just a road through the country, and it wasn’t exactly designed to be optimal for navigation! It’s good that you only had to go 6 miles out of your way!
Maybe when I am retired, I will do a similar trip around the country meeting all of you folks! 🙂
Why wait, Mark? We’ve got flowers down here now – and you don’t need to shovel them! 😉
Well then, that is quite the temptation. 🙂