Reuniting With Blogging Friends

I’ve been very lucky to have had the opportunity to meet multiple fellow bloggers – 14 at last count – over the years. Each get together has been enjoyable and uplifting and has reinforced my theory that we are pretty much what you see on our blogs.

A few of these bloggers have turned into dear friends who we’ve traveled to visit several times since our first meeting. They have also made it a point to visit us whenever they get close to our hometown.

Recently, my husband and I made our third trip to beautiful Vancouver Island, Canada, to reunite with several of these dear friends… and one very adorable bloggy doggy.

Our first visit to the Island in 2019:

Judith, Ann, Erica, Donna, and Kathy.

In 2021, we crossed the U.S. / Canadian border on the day the Covid restrictions were lifted so we could meet again:

2021 meetup with bloggers and our all-male fan club.

This summer, my husband and I spent a leisurely week and a half driving north through California, Oregon, and Washington before taking a ferry to Vancouver Island. Along the way, we reunited with family, friends (including a couple we first met during our travels to Spain last year), and saw some beautiful scenery.

While on Vancouver Island we enjoyed fun times and fabulous weather but, most of all, we were embraced in the warm welcome of dear friends.

Enjoying lunch with Kathy (Smart Living 365), Donna (Retirement Reflections), and Deb (The Widow Badass)… I don’t believe the subject of blogging even came up.
Donna, Deb, bloggy doggy Bowser, and me.

Please check out Terri’s Sunday Stills post and follow the links to see how others have interpreted her theme for this week: Reunited.

Although we neglected to get a picture of our first meetup, Terri was the first blogger I met in person back in 2015. We’ve made it a point to reunite whenever we find ourselves nearby.

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Author: Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged.com

My blog is about travel, relationships, photography, and whatever else pops into my head (even, sometimes, issues surrounding retirement and aging).

122 thoughts on “Reuniting With Blogging Friends”

  1. Hi, Janis – I am forever grateful that our blogs brought us together and that we have been able to have several meetups in person despite the physical distance between us. Long may this continue!
    I look forward to seeing you, Deb, Kathy, Jude and our hubbies this evening.

    I’m so glad that you snuck this post in. Don’t you have another one ready to publish? I look forward to that post too!

    ❤ ❤ ❤

  4. Janis, this is what WP is all about IMHO – the connections. In your case, you’re doubly blessed with in-person interactions/meetups as a bonus benefit of those on-line ones. I can’t help but remember back in January 2020 when hubby and I were in SDCA on business/vacation and I toyed with the idea of contacting you…then I got COVID and was stuck in the hotel for several days before I could manage the cross country drive back. I must have been one of the first of many to get it as there was no name for the odd & debilitating symptoms I’d experienced. Then I later learned you had a similar symptomatic experience around the same time…So, we may have never met in person, I like to think we braved early onset COVID at the same time in what was still considered to be ‘Pre-Pandemic Times’.
    Weird, I know, but there it is!
    🙂

  5. That’s great that you’ve met up with 14 bloggers since you’ve been blogging Janis – the camaraderie through the years, both with meet-ups and reading and commenting on one another’s posts is what makes blogging so enjoyable.

      1. Very true Janis – my first four and one-half years of blogging, I had three friends who subscribed to my blog, so what a surprise when I finally had bloggers follow and interact with me – that was a heady experience for me, so I can’t imagine you connected with all these fellow bloggers/friends.

    2. Agreed! You make the posters come to life, especially with their smiling faces. So very very special, the post, the people, and the connections you have made and are sharing with us. Thank you on all those counts.

      1. We had so much fun! And, as a reflection of our true friendship (as opposed to “just” being blogging buddies), the subject of blogging rarely came up. We have found that, despite living in different places – even different countries – we have a lot in common.

  7. Janis, I love this post! Terri was one of my first friends that I met in the states. My first friends that I met were from Australia. We all went to HI together. Now we have our AZ group, and we meet monthly. I’d love to meet the Canadian group, though. They are awesome bloggers!

  8. Hey Janis! Pretty sneaky throwing a blog post in here with all of us showing up! YES to how much fun we’ve had and I know you have too! So wonderful to spend some time with you and Paul along with Donna and Richard. And great to see Deb and Judith too. It’s becoming a habit! May the rest of your trip go as wonderfully and we look forward to when we get together again. ~Kathy

  10. How wonderful! I can attest to blogging friends meet-ups. They are super enjoyable, enriching, interesting, and fun! Please say hi to everyone for me! And, aren’t you “lucky” with Terri’s theme lining up perfectly. 🙂

  13. I’ve been lucky to meet up with two blogging friends and it was great. Bloggers are always true to what they write so it’s never disappointing. It’s great that you got photos!

  15. How fun to meet up and be reunited with the blog group again, Janis! Perfect timing…how did that happen? We’re dying to get over to Vancouver Island!

    We’ll be back to San Diego again in January. We plan to snowbird to AZ again as early as Dec 20 to start our trip. Predicting a lot of snow this winter here, but I need sunshine! Enjoy your trip home. Thanks for sharing the pics of our mutual friends.

    1. When I saw your theme for this week, I just had to write this post! Thanks for the inspiration.

      I hope you get over to Vancouver Island soon… especially now that you are so close. It’s so lovely.

      Hopefully we can plan a get together in January. I always appreciate you making the time to meet while you are traveling.

    2. Kathy was planning to write about her trip this afternoon. I will do a write up in my What’s Been On Your Calendar post at the end of this month. Deb is on a blogging break now so you may not hear from her for a bit. 😀

  18. Hi Janis, I truly missed seeing you and Paul this trip. We have had a full-on Summer with mainland family trips and out of town company staying with us. I relayed hugs and well wishes to you via Donna.😊 Safe travels home and I always greatly appreciate our connection. 💕Erica

  19. Janis – How wonderful you’ve been able to link up with 14 (!) other bloggers. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting 2. Although one is no longer blogging, and the other has shifted way down (and I wonder if she’s moving on from it.) I do know if I am ever your way (or Vancouver Island way), I’ll be sure to leave time for a meet-up! You would think some of you would visit Florida… it is a vacation destination! OK, for the midwesterners, not the west-coasters. Still, love the photos with all of you in there.

    2. Not all of the bloggers I’ve met are still blogging years later… and several have slowed down. Fortunately, our friendships have extended beyond blogging. I’d love to meet if you ever get my way! Florida is not currently in my plans but you never know. 😎

      1. Janis, I definitely know where some of my fav bloggers live… but we are just not traveling at the moment except brief trips for family events. Looks like a graduation (Syracuse NY) and wedding (Cincinnati OH) next year, but that’s it for now. I’m unsure when the travel bug will rear it’s head again.

  22. Wow! I have a goal to meet up with a blogger in real life and I am not sure it will ever happen! And you’ve planned trips around it. Wow!

      1. I live so in the middle of nowhere… but I will travel! I’m hoping for a VI meet-up next fall while at a class reunion .

    2. Hi Bernie, if you do ‘sort of’ know some dates next Fall, I don’t want to miss out! I greatly missed seeing Janis this year! The get togethers have been a highlight!! 💕

  23. That looks like a fun reunion! I think I’m up to 9 bloggers met, though only one has resulted in reunions (geography plays some part in that). I also have a good friend I met on Twitter in the days when it wasn’t a cesspit.

  24. So great that you’ve traveled so far and have gotten to meet up with these lovely people multiple times. I think I read about some of this on Erica/Erika’s blog a while back.

    Looking forward to having a picture of MYSELF with you on your blog before long. 😉

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  28. What wonderful friends you’ve made from within the blogging community, Janis. It was a delight to meet them in your photos! 😉

  29. How great that you’ve pulled together such a group from your blog interactions! So far I’ve only met one blogger pal in person. One planned meeting jettisoned in 2020. Hopefully more in the future! Great photos!

  35. I used to be part of a group called ‘The Bloggers’ Bash’ that used to meet up in London once a year from 2015 – 2019. They were great events, with the fourth one attracting over 70 bloggers, some travelling from Australia and North America. Sadly the pandemic put a stop to those meets, but it was also a lot of hard work sorting out the events. Many happy memories, though, Janis.

  37. Wow. Great stuff Janis. It is always a pleasure and very much fun to meet other Bloggers and you are lucky to meet them outside the real world and beyond the online space.

    Keep blogging✔💯✨

  39. How fun, Janis. I haven’t met many bloggers in person, but on those rare occasions when I have, it’s been great! And funny thing, Terri is the first blogger I met too. She’s so wonderfully outgoing and energetic. Thanks for sharing your meet ups and all the familiar smiling faces.

  40. What a wonderful reunion with your best blogging buddies, Janis! We’ve also made many “forever friends” through our blog, and it has been a delightful and unexpected benefit of blogging. Even though our planned meetup with you didn’t work out last spring, I hope that we’ll have another chance!

  41. This is extremely wholesome. This post can put a smile on anyone’s face. A group of passionate bloggers having a reunion! It’s making me tear up. I love that you found your ‘gang’. Also, your writing is immaculate.

  44. I grew up in north of Seattle and we spent lots of time in Victoria, plus when we had a boat, the Gulf Islands in Canada. I love that you’ve met so many bloggers in person and stay in touch. I’ve only met one so far in June. LA from Waking Up on the Wrong Side of 50. It felt like we were old friends, we recognized each other right away and had a big hug.

  45. How incredible! I find it totally awesome suddenly being face to face with people I had been chatting to via social media or blogs for the past years and creating never-ending friendships literally overnight. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

    1. It really is amazing how we can feel close to people we’ve never met in person. I have found that the people I’ve gotten to know through blogging are pretty much the same in real life. I am grateful for this group of friends that I would have never met if it wasn’t for our blogs.

  46. Hi Janis, I am truly sorry I missed seeing you and Paul in person this Summer. I love seeing the photos and hearing about your adventures. Next time! 💕 Erica

    1. Hi again, I read over the comments and I see how I have already commented on this post…good grief…it has been quite the Summer LOL XOXO Erica

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