As promised, I did take a trip to the arena to see John McCain's speech with my own eyes for about ten seconds, just so I can tell our children I saw him give the speech. The final day of the convention was pretty
anti climactic after the Sarah Palin Festival the day before. Either way, the Republicans seemed to enjoy it.
I didn't know it actually existed, but what male television news professional hasn't joked about how awesome it would be to work at a Channel 69? Turns out, there really is one!
WFMZ in Allentown, PA was covering the convention. I never got the balls to ask if I could take a picture with one of the photographers who had enormous 69 logos on their cameras, but I did sneak this shot of one of their cpu's during McCain's speech. Who knew we should all strive to work in Allentown?
After it was all over we made our final walk from the convention center to the parking ramp. Parking ramp is Minnesotan for a parking deck or parking garage. MSNBC had their outdoor set on this little plaza in downtown Saint Paul. It looked like Christmas every night the way they had it all lighted. It felt like Christmas, too thanks to the cool temperatures. Saint Paul's a beautiful place.
Not everyone has heard of Herb Brooks, but if you're from Minnesota, he's one of your favorite native sons. He and Bob Dylan. Herb Brooks was the coach of the USA hockey team when we whipped Russia's ass en route to the gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid. Herb engineered the miracle with awful plaid suits that seemed to give us good luck throughout the games. Brooks coached several colleges, a couple of NHL teams and even gave the USA team one more go in 2002. He unfortunately died in a car accident a few years ago but his statue is pretty sweet.
Charles Schultz is also from Saint Paul. In fact, every Snoopy character is somewhere downtown in the form of these big assed brass characters. I tried to get Shawn to pose with Linus who sits on a bench nearby, but he sprinted to Charlie Brown with Snoopy on his lap and I couldn't pull him away.
We predictably ended our night back at
Bullwinkle's for five dollar pitchers of Grain Belt's
Premium Light. It was a pretty big crowd for a Thursday but our new friends behind the bar found us a place to sit and pitchers to pour beer into.
Every time I visit the Midwest, I meet people who are welcoming, hospitable and genuinely nice. Sure, we have the famous Southern Hospitality here at home, but I think it may be hyped too much, and maybe even overrated. Folks like Tom and Jenny poured us pitchers and treated us like regulars. The hotel staff was accommodating with whatever we needed. Every server in every restaurant was polite and proud of their home. Minneapolis and Saint Paul are beautiful places with good people. My kinda towns.
As promised, I did take a trip to the arena to see John McCain's speech with my own eyes for about ten seconds, just so I can tell our children I saw him give the speech. The final day of the convention was pretty anti climactic after the Sarah Palin Festival the day before. Either way, the Republicans seemed to enjoy it.
I didn't know it actually existed, but what male television news professional hasn't joked about how awesome it would be to work at a Channel 69? Turns out, there really is one! WFMZ in Allentown, PA was covering the convention. I never got the balls to ask if I could take a picture with one of the photographers who had enormous 69 logos on their cameras, but I did sneak this shot of one of their cpu's during McCain's speech. Who knew we should all strive to work in Allentown?
After it was all over we made our final walk from the convention center to the parking ramp. Parking ramp is Minnesotan for a parking deck or parking garage. MSNBC had their outdoor set on this little plaza in downtown Saint Paul. It looked like Christmas every night the way they had it all lighted. It felt like Christmas, too thanks to the cool temperatures. Saint Paul's a beautiful place.
Not everyone has heard of Herb Brooks, but if you're from Minnesota, he's one of your favorite native sons. He and Bob Dylan. Herb Brooks was the coach of the USA hockey team when we whipped Russia's ass en route to the gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid. Herb engineered the miracle with awful plaid suits that seemed to give us good luck throughout the games. Brooks coached several colleges, a couple of NHL teams and even gave the USA team one more go in 2002. He unfortunately died in a car accident a few years ago but his statue is pretty sweet.
Charles Schultz is also from Saint Paul. In fact, every Snoopy character is somewhere downtown in the form of these big assed brass characters. I tried to get Shawn to pose with Linus who sits on a bench nearby, but he sprinted to Charlie Brown with Snoopy on his lap and I couldn't pull him away.
We predictably ended our night back at Bullwinkle's for five dollar pitchers of Grain Belt's Premium Light. It was a pretty big crowd for a Thursday but our new friends behind the bar found us a place to sit and pitchers to pour beer into.
Every time I visit the Midwest, I meet people who are welcoming, hospitable and genuinely nice. Sure, we have the famous Southern Hospitality here at home, but I think it may be hyped too much, and maybe even overrated. Folks like Tom and Jenny poured us pitchers and treated us like regulars. The hotel staff was accommodating with whatever we needed. Every server in every restaurant was polite and proud of their home. Minneapolis and Saint Paul are beautiful places with good people. My kinda towns.
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