I was one of the lucky people who was fortunate enough to get an invite (thank you +Cody Bratt) to Google+ within the first week of Beta testing. Immediately after joining, I was discovering and conversing with a number of new photographers I found to be fun and inspiring.
A few months later in November, +Thomas Hawk organized a Death Valley trip on Google+. I drove my tired little Honda 1,200 miles round trip with +sly vegas (whom I had never met) to meet a bunch of new photographers in a place I had never been, while shooting something somewhat unfamiliar and it was one of the best trips I've ever taken.
Following the Death Valley trip, I used G+ to keep in touch with those I met on the trip, to meet even more photographers online and participate in a handful of hangouts until the early hours of the morning.
Then last weekend, a bunch of the photographers from Death Valley reunited in Big Sur because +Tony Payne sent out a post on Google+ mentioning that he would be up in the area and wanted to see if anyone would be interested in camping in Big Sur. About 10 of us jumped on the opportunity to shoot together and hang out again and of course, it was another great trip.
Next weekend, I will be going to Yosemite with some of the same people for a 3-night full moon photo walk.
For those of you who still don't believe there's a reason to join or be active on Google+, I can say without hesitation that joining Google+ has made such positive impact on my life and I am so thankful for and inspired by the people I have met there.