JULY 26TH, WE MEET SARAH AND TODD PALIN

This morning 8 of us played hooky and skipped the caravan activities to head out to Pioneer Park where Sarah Palin was giving her farewell address and Parnell was being sworn in as the new governor. We had high hopes of getting pictures and maybe autographs.

After a hearty breakfast at Denny's restaurant, we headed out. She wasn't due there until noon, but we knew they were expecting a crowd and we wanted good seats. Wow did things change. The first person we met when we went in was Shirley, a volunteer all dressed up in red, white and blue. She showed us where all the action was going to be and pointed out where the Sarah souvenirs were. The four ladies headed for the souvenirs and we soon emerged with neat Sarah tee shirts. When we caught back up, Shirley had signed all the guys and us up as volunteers and from then on, we were busy as bees. Had the greatest time. Because we had on the tee shirts (everyone wanted them, but the guy had only brought a few and soon sold out) and our volunteer badges, they thought we were celebrities. I bet we had our pictures made and I'm not exaggerating around 200x. A lot of people wanted their pictures made with us. So funny!! We were also interviewed by a lot of media-have no idea why.

The guys were put to work setting up barriers for the food lines and the ladies were put to work guarding the reserved and handicapped seating areas. This assured us of great seats :-)

When Sarah arrived, it was pandemonium. I was about 4-5' directly in front of her and gave her a shout out that "Alabama loves you". She looked directly at me and said "Thank You, I love your shirt". Be still my heart! Afterwards, I got in line to meet her for a hot dog. Of course, she had on gloves and was serving hot dogs, but when I got up to her she said " Hi Patsy(my name tag), I saw you standing over there". I like a babbling nut, said again "We love you in Alabama, please come visit us" and she and her assistant smiled and said "We would love too". End of conversation. I was really star struck!!! Her staff was making pictures and said I could download my picture from the web-site. Can't wait. Denny met Todd and had his new white shirt autographed by Todd. I made some great pictures of him. He is really a cutie. Sarah is much prettier and smaller than appears on tv. Very gracious.

After that we went back to work and were really tired when the ceremony started. We had great seats and the crowd loved her. One or two hecklers, but she put them in their place. I believe now that she doesn't have to be so politically correct, she will come out swinging. The crowd sure encouraged her to do so.

Also saw her children and they were precious, especially Piper. She looks like so much fun and mischief. Beautiful family-it just boggles the mind how the press has so maligned them.

Back at the RV, we were exhausted but all of us were giddy. When our friends returned from sight-seeing, we were surrounded with questions. Most wanted to go with us and were sorry they didn't.

There is a major forest fire about 50 miles from here and ash was falling in the campground. So sad because even those the fires are out in the wilderness, because of the permafrost, it takes 30 -40 years for a tree to grow 1-2ft.

Not your usual tourist day, but one of the best days yet and lots of memories.

GO SARAH!!!!