This past Thursday through Saturday we spent going and coming from Rochester, MN and attending the Republican Convention. This was Ken's second time to go to State Convention and my first. I thought I would share my experiences here. We were blessed to have family that were willing to watch the kids and the kids were very excited about it too. So it was just Ken and I in Rochester.
The Convention started on Thursday night with a Rally. We needed supper before we went and we needed to find something that was quick and we found a PizzaZ restaurant in the skyway so we decided to try it out. They have very interesting pizza and they were quite good. I love trying new things (like artichoke hearts on pizza) so I was quite impressed, Ken not quite so much.
At the Rally we heard quite a number of speakers, Many of the people running for congress in MN, the State Party Chairman ~Ron Carey, Senator Norm Coleman and Senator Tom Coborn from Oklahoma. I enjoyed listening to all of it but I especially enjoyed hearing Senator Tom Coborn. He gave some real food for thought and seems like a real thoughtful conservative who is very trustworthy.Friday morning we went to a Breakfast "with" Senator Coleman and his wife and staff. To be honest I didn't see the Senator at breakfast but I guess he did make it. I had been told to invite friends so I asked Winn and Betsy if they would care to join us so they were able to come as well. The breakfast was good: Pancakes, french toast sticks, sausage and lots of yummy fruit.
Breakfast was finished a while before the convention was to start, Ken had a meeting to go to but I was free so Winn and Betsy offered to show me around a little at the Mayo Clinic. Above I am standing in front of some neat blown glass sculptures which I guess is near the Cancer clinic.
We also went in the Plummer building, one of the oldest buildings. It was very ornate and fun to look at. Above are Winn and Betsy in the Plummer building.
This is a replica of the Plummer building made out of legos.
At the Convention I and many others that were alternates had to go sit in the balcony until it was figured out whether we would be seated or not. I had fun visiting with some of the other alternates and spotting people down below. It took quite a while to get everybody sitting down, being quiet and getting organized.
I did get seated. All of our county's seats were filled which is good. Two years ago when Ken went before many of the Delegates didn't make it and so I think they had less than half of the voting power they could have had. At these sort of events it always amazes me how long it takes to get seemingly simple things done. Passing a rule or whatever takes a lot of discussion (the discussion is interesting and I don't mind it except when people just start repeating what others have already said.) and usually people start getting noisy and have to be quieted and then we have to vote on it.One of the major issues at the convention was electing delegates and alternates to go to national convention (which will be in St. Paul). Many people wanted to go and had "applied" for that honor. The possible delegates had to have a meeting (before the convention) with the endorsing committee and some were chosen to be endorsed and some were not. (I am not quite sure why they made the choices they did.) Anyway the rules of the convention (to my understanding) said that the possibles had to be endorsed in order to by able to be able to be voted for. There were many that wanted to go that were not endorsed (it seemed particularly supporters of Ron Paul) and they I guess did not know about the rule and so along with the rest of us passed the rules but then when they found out that they could not be voted for they spent the next two days trying to fight that rule in every way they could. It ended up being a bit of a disrespectful mess. Our newspaper when reporting on it said that this convention looked more like a democratic convention than a normal Republican convention and I don't think they said that as a complement.
Over all I found the Convention interesting, it was a great learning experience for me. Also I was impressed with some of the stories I heard about how leaders have used the power they have to help people. I have ideas of how I can be a better, more informed and useful delegate next time. Also I enjoyed getting ideas for how to better share my ideas and convictions with others.
Here is a picture of most of our group. (a few were not here when we took the picture.) This is a fun group of people and it was fun to be able to spend time with them.
On Saturday we had the privilege of listening to Karl Rove speak. He was an interesting and inspiring speaker.
On Friday evening I skipped out on the convention for a while to go visit Betsy and Winn at their new farm. It was fun to spend time with them and see all the projects they are working on. It felt good to just unwind after a day of chaos.
On Saturday after it was over Ken and I went out for lunch at "Famous Dave's". We had heard of the restaurant but never tried it before. It was good but I sure was ready for non-greasy, good for you food when I got home.
Here is my handsome companion.
When we went to pick up Mara and Aaron from my sister's house they seemed happy to see us but not in any hurry to go home. I guess all had gone well for them staying there. Aaron had tried to avoid staying clean while there, rejecting Uncle Travis' recommendation of a shower but when Aunt Anna thought a bath was in order I guess he asked her "You don't wash guests hair do you?!" to which she responded yes she did. Both kids slept quite a bit on the way home. I think they were quite worn out.
When we picked up Jonathan and Megan at Mom and Dad's they were excited to see us but they had also had a wonderful time. Mom said the only time Megan had fussed was when they went to our house to pick something up (on Thursday afternoon) and Megan had thought they were taking her home already.
We are all glad to be back though and I am looking forward to just staying home for a while!
