I’m an early riser.  Even when I’m not coordinating primates I can’t seem to get off the school year schedule. So going to bed near 11 and waking up near 4 wasn’t that much of surprise to me, even on vacation.

The trouble is, the conference isn’t scheduled for insane people like me.  Registration begins at 9 am, and the sessions don’t start until noon. So I had a few hours to kill.

The first was slain attempting to get back to sleep and then making coffee.

The second was dispatched solving Marsha’s lack of pottying problem. She needs to be off leash but shouldn’t wander too far as there can be poisonous critters about. Fortunately the solution was Right across from my patio. There’s  a ‘river’ made for paddle boarding and other activities. In the river there’s a little island with real grass and a few benches. Connecting the island to the shore is a bridge. So, I took her over, let her go to wander around the island until she was comfortable enough to do what needed to be done while I guarded her only escape route.  And it worked!  Several times that day we went over to Poop Island.

The third hour was dealt with by walking the ground of the lovely Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass.  There are all sorts of interesting birds, including what I’m 98% sure was a Great Horned Owl, which you can see in the fourth picture casually perched on top of a sign.

Oh, I also got a picture of the early morning view from the lobby, which I totally neglected to get the day before.

Hour four was getting close to normal people time so I left Marsha with Maggie Marton and went to get some groceries.  The conference didn’t feed us until the evening so I was on my own for breakfast and lunch.  I got some easily portable noms and some sodas and partook of them throughout the day.

While I was gone Maggie was good enough to send me some photos of how Marsha was faring, and I think she did quite well!

Finally the day was actually starting!  I checked in and got my BlogPaws tee shirt and dog and cat swag bag.  I’d been told to expect a lot of stuff, as well as vendor giving out things.  As a teacher attending conferences I’ve been used to getting a pen, or some post-its  or some such.  I knew this would be different but I was still impressed by the scope of it all.

After unloading all the goodies, and getting ready for the day, Marsha and I attended the first of our sessions.  It was about the legal issues bloggers can encounter regarding ‘fair use’ and copy right, as well as how to protect yourself if you do ‘branded’ or ‘sponsored’ content posts.  As deadly as that might sound the presenters Chloe Divita, and Tom Collins from the BlogPaws Executive Team  and local lawyer Ruth Carter made it pretty fun and interesting.  Well, for the humans anyway…

After that it was nosing around the vendor and sponsor stalls, going to Poop Island a few times, snacks and drinks, opening remarks, dinner, and then going to bed.

Total steps taken: 14,652 (Erik)

Butts sniffed: 25-40 (Marsha)

Cards given out:  less than a million, more that thirty (Erik)

Pieces of cheese nibbled: not nearly enough (Marsha)

Days 2&3