Palin rally report

As promised, here's my play-by-play from the "Road to Victory Rally" last Friday. I don't know how to make a slideshow and don't feel like learning, plus I like to put individual pictures in an add lots of background information...so you've been warned: this will be a crazy long post with lots of scrolling.

We were shooting for a 7:30 AM departure. Those of you with infants know that didn't happen and we left closer to 8:00. :) Since the monkey hasn't been sleeping well (and randomly got up to eat at 2:00 AM Thursday night for the first time in months) and I stayed up late playing with our new laptop and wireless internet, I only got 4 hours of sleep. I briefly considered stopping at a gas station on the way for a giant "crappucino" both for warmth and caffeine, but then I realized that would most likely lead to a port-a-potty visit. Port-a-potty visits are not high on my list of fun--especially trying to squat in one with a heavy child strapped to my chest. I've never actually tried it, but it definitely sounds complicated. We made the trip caffeine-free. :)

The doors were set to open at 8:30, so I figured that since we arrived at 8:45 all the die-hards would already be working through security and we wouldn't have a huge line. Wrong. Since the ground was flat and the line was all snakey, I couldn't really capture how many people were in it, but I tried.

In the picture below, we're almost at the front of the line and we can actually see the set-up in the park.

It took about 45 minutes to get through security, so once we finally got inside the gates we had a little over 2 hours to get the lay of the land and see the sights. I think we actually got a good spot. It would have been better if I'd been a foot taller, but oh well. Here's the view we had before things got started.

I realized that's not a very good picture because there's no one actually at the podium, but it ended up being the best picture I took that showed how close we started out. Yup, I said "started out." We'll get to that later, though. First, some sights I took in while we stood around waiting.

Look closely--can you see the 2 black-clad snipers on the roof of the building? Exciting! There are 2 more on top of the building in the picture below.

I had read that homemade signs would not be allowed in, so I didn't bother to make one. I saw several once inside, though, that said things like "Plumbers for Palin" and "Raise babies, kill taxes." My favorite sign was this one:

I have a game for you. It's called "Where's the Palin look-a-like?"

See her?

The people between me and her were looking at me suspiciously after this, so I couldn't get a better head-on shot, but you can pretty much use your imagination to fill in all the details. I'll just say that I admire her dedication.

The upper left of the next photo contains the band that entertained us while we waited. I believe they were called the "Calypso Cowboys." It was basically twangy country music with a steel drum. I actually liked it! :)

Through the 3 hours of waiting, sweet Sarah Beth was a patient little angel. She didn't look like she was having fun in this picture (that I took by holding the camera out in front of me), but she was really really tired and the marching band interrupted her nap.

I was having a better time, though.

Things finally got rolling when Congressman John Boehner got up and made a little speech. He was warmly received. Not being a native Ohioan, I'd never heard him before. He made a good speech but the whole time he sounded as if he was either drunk or in the throes of a terrible chest cold.

11:30 finally rolled around and "Eye of the Tiger" (no, I'm not kidding) pumped the crowd up for the guest of honor. It really was like a pep rally--people were jumping around and sreaming and looking around trying to figure out which direction she would be coming from. Since I didn't bring my stilts, I obviously couldn't see her come out, but I stuck my camera in the air in the general direction of the mayhem and here's what I got. She's in there somewhere.

Here she is!

Sorry they're all at weird angles and off-centered. I was just sticking my camera up in the air and seeing what I got without being able to actually look in the viewfinder. Unfortunately, these were the best shots of her I got because all the clapping and cheering absolutely terrified Sarah Beth and she proceeded to melt down just as things quieted down and Sarah Palin began her speech. I frantically tried to calm her down for a few seconds while people I'd stood next to for hours gave me sympathetic smiles that really meant "get that baby out of here NOW! I'm trying to listen!" We beat it back to the back of the crowd so I could get her out of the middle of the pack. The saddest part was I'd put my "Country First" sign on the ground long enough to get her out of the carrier and when I went to grab it before we made our hasty retreat the guy in front of me was standing on it! I didn't want to distract anybody further so I just lefted it. Boo. :(

She finally calmed down and I got to listen to about the last 5 minutes of the speech. Here's the view we had from the back.

Awesome. :) Oh, well. It was still a really fun couple of hours and I'm still glad we went, even though I waited 3 hours and didn't really get to hear the speech. I read somewhere that there were about 15,000 people there. Woo hoo. :)