Walking down Market Street in the crisp Bay breeze my excitement wells. A path of strategically placed paw print stickers leads me into the entrance of Moscone West and the second annual conference devoted to Salesforce developers, TrailheaDX (#TDX17). 

The National Park motif makes me giddy with childhood memories of trips in the family camper and treks through the Southwest. The event staff is decked out in Ranger hats, wilderness scenes with Salesforce mascots, and DJ music in the main lobby set the mood. The distinct signs create a photo op with Chief Equality Officer, Tony Profit. 

There are over 140 sessions to choose from. With a carefully planned event itinerary, I am there to take in as much as possible. 

This is the best place for meeting all the people you've only up to now known by their Twitter handles. I was finally able to put a face to @NotIsBlankMonica, love her big smile. 

The conference hall is buzzing with attendees filling up seats in the Mini Hack Basin and Camp Quick Start to get their Trailhead badges and prize points. Sessions are first come first served and I didn't make the queue early enough for the Hands-On: Getting Started with Lightning Components led by none other than Lead Developer Evangelist and friend, Zayne Turner. I stationed myself just within earshot feeling like a kid hanging on the camp counselor's every word.

I rushed to learn more about SalesforceDX and the new developer experience from Wayne Wegner. Tools, shifting mindsets, a new source of the truth, Scratch orgs, wow!  The new ephemeral environment is a game-changer. Source-driven, entirely configurable, and all from the new Salesforce CLI (Command-line Interface). 

The atmosphere feels like camping the Grand Canyon in the fall, I'm in a conference with several thousand fellow geeks.

Salesforce's adoption of the National Park motif and "Trailblazer" term is fitting with the advocacy for equity and equality. Fellow user group leader, Gloria Gutierrez, and I lingering after the closing keynote and get a photo snapped with Parker Harris, Salesforce Co-founder. It’s a huge smile moment. 

The conference is rounded out with a cookout hosted by the Academic Alliance team. They discuss bringing Salesforce education to universities and institutions of higher learning. 

TrailheaDX is like camp for geeks: two days jam-packed with learning, plenty of swag, and happy hours.