Governor Pitaki I hope I spelled his name right) of Minnesota spoke to our group briefly, and the majority of the presentation was lead by our Secretary of State (the highest ranking Republican in the State of Arizona) Jan Brewer. “God Bless America” was sung by a girl who appeared last year on American Idol. Sorry, didn't get a photo.
Buster spoke momentarily to a gal who was with the press. She asked some “vanilla” questions, which were the usual things like “What do you think of McCain’s running mate?” That kind of stuff.
We were guests at the Minneapolis Convention Center, for a welcome party that included some patriotic displays, an Abraham Lincoln look a like,(creepy)
an Air Force One model, and also Roosevelt’s Limo--with probably the only stuffed version of Roosevelt in the whole world sitting inside:
there was a prototype of Reagan’s limo, and lots of shopping. I bought a sweatshirt for my son that has a picture of McCain in his military days, and the logo looks like G.I. Joe except it says G.I. John, a REAL American Hero. Waaay cool.
The food was everywhere, pretty much every few feet was a table full of food. The bars were each sponsored so that meant all we wanted was free. The highlight for me was getting to be up close with an American Bald Eagle. She was just gorgeous. The handler took my photo with her, unfortunately it was a little blurry.
I took one of Buster as he was looking at his camera and his turned out pretty good.
The Eagle’s nest on display was over 6 feet in length. The handlers had all kinds of interesting info about the Bald Eagle, and it was neat to listen to. I have to admit, I got up on that stage with that magnificent bird and I couldn’t help but get teary-eyed. That bird has been thru so much with our country and it was a great experience to right up there with her for a photo. Those eyes were piercing, and that beak was enormous. I’ll never forget that one. She looks so stoic in the photos. In person it was an amazing thing to be near.
Sunday evening we joined our fellow Arizonans back at our host hotel, the St. Paul, for drinks and conversation in the lobby. Several prominent campaigners and politicians were there and talking casual which was nice.
Not the debating and arguing we had Saturday night!
We had music once again from the jazz treo, periodically we would see people we recognized from politics and television. Mike Watkis from the Phoenix news joined us briefly. At one point I looked up at a man walking in the front door and I said,
"He looks like a drunk Tom Brokaw." Well then we looked closer and it was really Tom Brokaw. His hair was tousled by the breeze outdoors and he kinda weaved to the side a little bit as he was walking in. Tom Brokaw. Amazing.
Cancelled stuff. Gotta address that.
Not really what the press is saying on t.v., because all the functions that were scheduled are still happening. We’re still having a session Monday afternoon at the Convention Center but we’re not going to have the big program that they’d originally intended. That’s fine, because there’s so much going on and it’s been difficult to keep up. Because of overlapping events, we had to skip the Lee Greenwood concert and I’m alright with that. Too much stuff, too busy of a schedule to attend to.
Why would they cancel things in Minnesota due to an impending storm in Louisiana? All we can figure is the matter of respect. Although I’m pretty sure the next time Arizona has a major disaster (thousands of acres of fires) the rest of the country will keep living their lives and doing things as planned.
We are being prompted to give to the American Red Cross, to support those who are in the gulf coast states, and to be flexible for this week’s schedule.
