I decided to take the leap and go to the Fincon12 which was in Denver this year.

At first I wasn’t very excited to go.  I knew a few of my online friends that were bloggers, stopped blogging or slowed down.  So it was a sad start for me personally.  That said, I was actually surprised to learn that the number of those attending the conference doubled from last year, so it was great meeting some of the new folks!

I was so bummed, that on Friday morning I decided to go on a special “personal” Denver exploration trip.  First I walked down to 16th street.  This street is special because they call it an “16th Street Mall”, where the streets aren’t drivable by normal cars (although buses and rickshaws do) and it’s interesting to say the least!  The street is lined with shops like a normal mall would be, but it’s outdoors.  There are people playing pianos and other entertaining things for money.  If you are a people watcher, you would love it, there are tons of interesting and diverse people all around.

The following Saturday, I walked down to the Library for an hour and 1/2, thinking that since I really enjoy the libraries in the state that I live in (Ohio), then the Denver libraries must be spectacular!  Boy was I wrong!  First the library is across the street from the park where a high number of homeless live, not to mention the large number of groups of teenagers.  Next once inside it wasn’t visually appealing for me, and in fact it kind of reminded me of rundown multi-floor gymnasium.  Needless to say, I’ve come to the realization that librarys aren’t all golden like the ones where I live, and may be a negative or even dangerous place to visit (There was a police officer in the vestibule of the library that looked seasoned and tough).

That said, the streets where fairly clean (no trash lying around), and the architecture was very elegant and diverse, the aesthetics of the city alone (17th and Welton St.) made the trip worth it from my perspective, especially this is the first trip to Denver where I got to actually see the city!

While this little trip might not seem like much, it let me pretend for a small moment that I was a traveling blogger, and that I was away from home exploring a new city (which it was for me)!  I was taking it all in like a sponge!  The clean but gum encrusted sidewalks, the fashion that the people out there worn, not to mentioned their hair styles, the typical shape of the city dwellers where, the incredible but not overdone architecture, the homeless, the quality of the air (the mile high city didn’t phase me from a lack of air perspective, and this pleased me greatly) and the basic overall community.

So from a non-conference standpoint, getting a feel for the incredible city of Denver was worth the cost of attending the financial conference alone!  I can’t wait to hear where it will be next year!  I hope it’s still within my budget to go!

I’ll post more about the experience and the people I met later!

Bests,

Don