The morning started at 5:00 a.m. We left the house by 5:30 a.m., made it to the parking and were bused over to Coachman Park by 6:30 a.m. We got prime seats, some 10 yards away from the podium and stood around for the next three hours.
Actually, it wasn't that bad... all of the local speakers started around 7:30 - 8:00 a.m. You could tell the event was important to the GOP because everyone was there... Representative Young, Senator Martinez and Governor Crist. Governor Palin arrived and was introduced by Senator Joe Liberman.
The greatest quality Palin has is her true sincerity. She is just a very nice person. When they walked on stage and everyone was waving and yelling, you could see just how moved she was... she kept leaning over to Liberman and saying "Wow! Wow!" At one point you could actually see in her eyes just how moved she was by the large and enthusiastic turnout.
Her speech was familiar, but impassioned. She layered in off-the-cuff comments, jokes and commented how the Tampa Bay Rays were not given much of a chance to win at the beginning of the season, but they, like the McCain/Palin ticket, would surprise people in the end.
Also, as Dea pointed out, she looks even more beautiful in person. The camera doesn't do her justice.
To prove we were there, can you spot me and Dea in the pic below?
At the end of the speech she spent almost 1/2 hour signing autographs and shaking hands. At one point, she spotted a mother with a special needs child and stopped.
She held the baby in her arms and you could see her mouth to the mother, "They're all special! She'll always be special!"It was a very sincere, touching moment.
DC was lucky enough to shake her hand as well. Gabe, however, was getting crushed, so we pulled him out and waited for everyone to make their way out.
Okay, give up finding Dea and me? Here we are...
It was a memorable and exhausting experience. I'm glad we had the chance to attend.
We'll have more pics from Dea's camera later.
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4 comments:
Mr. America meets Sarah Palin! I love it! Could easily pick out you and Dea. Dea of course looks better.
Nice, Uncle Steve...
We were part of the flag in the background. So, all the pictures I have are of her back. I got a video of the crowd and some guy's ten gallon hat. (It was very distracting, by the way...)
It was easy to find you... You can't miss your gray- I mean, your nicely cut and beautifully kept hair.
How could I miss that handsome smiling face? I spotted you right away. Had to take a second look for Dea, she looked small compared to you. Now you have something over your brothers. They saw Ford, now you saw Palin who is much pretteir than Ford. Not only that, you got your picture in the paper. I can't recall if they did. AND you didn't have to ride your bike. See, your mother knew best.
Ma, you're too funny!
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