Happy Birthday, Dear Blog!

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the Family Travel blog here on the BootsnAll Travel Network (true story – I first heard about BootsnAll at the stupendously great annual Texas Book Festival in Austin.)

The first post on February 10, 2006 said hello to everyone, the second was some random screed about traveler’s checks, but hey, I started a blog and wrote something, then kept at it, and boy am I grateful.

3 years is something of a lifetime in Internet terms, but I am proud of every gray hair I’ve earned, both on my head and on my blog.

I cannot tell you how often I’ve thought to myself, “Wow, if I wasn’t a blogger, I wouldn’t have a clue about what’s going on right now in journalism/travel/business/communications.”

I wouldn’t have a social media consulting and training business, either.

Props (as always) to the old friend who said to me back in late 2005, “If you’re gonna be a writer, you’ve gotta have a blog:” the Interactive Journalism Editor at the Houston Chronicle, Dwight Silverman. When I started this journey, the only blog I read was his TechBlog, and I usually couldn’t make heads or tails out of half of what he wrote.

Here’s the secret, though….I knew that whatever gobbledygook he was saying about the Web and social media and technology was important, and I’d better figure it out. So I did.

And along the way, what a priceless community of travelers and readers have joined me. Thank you as well to my husband and two kids, who still roll their eyes when they hear me say, “Oh! That’s a blog post!”

Blessings to all of you, and thanks for your support of Family Travel.