My only regret of the day was that I would have like to have attended Derek Davey's talk on the Genealogical Proof Standard, a topic that every genealogist needs a thorough understanding of. Derek and I, however, were scheduled to speak during the same sessions. Hopefully, I can catch his talk another time. I was able to attend a great talk on using Family Search given by Joseph Herr, the director of the LDS Family History Center in Chillicothe, Ohio and part of Debra Nowell's talk on DNA.
My friends, Sara, Ray, and Linda went with me to the workshop. There was a small but nice vending area where several other genealogical societies displayed their publications for sale. Sara had a table with the Allen County Genealogical Society's books.
Although, I missed Derek's lecture, I was able to visit with him when he went with my friends and me for lunch. We weren't familiar with the local restaurants but door prizes were being given throughout the day and Ray won a free lunch at Mulligan's Pub. Mulligan's Pub is conveniently located in the building where the workshop was so all we have to do is get in the elevator an go down to the first floor and we were there. Nice atmosphere, good food, and great service.
The workshop was held at the beautiful Fort Piqua Plaza downtown Piqua, Ohio. Fort Piqua Plaza was originally a luxury hotel built in the 1800s. It had been abandoned and deteriorating until it was restored and reopened in 2008. It takes up a whole city block and now contains the Piqua Public Library, banquet and conference facilities, meeting rooms, restaurants, and shops. Mulligan's Pub is only one of the restaurants on the street level.
Throughout the day, I talked to a number of people I knew from Miami County and other county genealogical societies and met a lot of other nice genealogists. The library was opened until 5:30 so we were able to explore their genealogy room and do a little research before we headed home. We stopped for supper on the way home at a favorite restaurant in Shelby County.
Linda decided to take us home on an old state route rather than the interstate. The beautiful, sunny day ended with a spectacular sunset. The sun looked like a gigantic red ball with purple and blue and orangy-yellow streaks across the sky on either side of it. We discovered a couple of tiny, really old rural cemeteries and decided that we're going back one day when we weren't so tired and check them out. We'll photograph them and put them on Find A Grave if they aren't already on there.
I'm whooped today but yesterday was my idea of a perfect Saturday. I'm not a morning person but I'd get up anytime at 5 a.m. to have a great time like I had going to the Miami County Genealogical Society's Routes to Roots workshop.