Sunday Adventures

 I apologize in advance for the awkward format. I was having trouble with the post. I figured I'd better let it go or I'll get too far behind.


I first looked at my watch at 6 am. Good, I can wake up at 6 am. But today I don't have to. I rolled over and the next thing I knew it was 10 am. Both Tanisha and I caught up on our lost sleep, and were ready to see Charlotte.

Too late for breakfast at the hotel, we decided to walk to the light rail station, which was supposed to be 'just a few blocks'. Long blocks. And it was hot. And muggy. The shuttle had gone to the airport. A cab came by and offered us a free lift but we thought we must be almost there...when the shuttle came by us and stopped, we got in. At the station, we got our week passes for $20, such a deal! And took the train in to Uptown (which is kinda like Downtown) Charlotte.

Right near the Convention stop was the MSNBC stage.

 And across from that, Frozen Yogurt. AH, breakfast, lunch and coldness all in one! It was the kind of place with many kinds of FroYo, you serve yourself, add toppings and pay by weight. I had dark chocolate, vanilla bean, pomegranate and watermelon, with almonds and blueberries. Delicious.

We noticed people with little paper fans, so headed in the direction they were coming from...we Discovered Myrtle Beach promo area with a big sand sculpture of President Obama. And met a sparkly lady named Loretta, from Las Vegas. She was a hoot! She had sequins everywhere, her shoes, her Obama tote, her hat, rhinestone pins galore, bedazzled from head to toe. Juanita Jean would love her!

A walk around the block led us to the giant bus station. We tried to make a loop around but there were barriers. We saw someone slide thru the barrier coming our way, so attempted to cross from our direction, but were politely stopped by a police officer. No riff raff from the bus station allowed in the security zone, so we had to walk around. So walk around we did, and ran into a 'man on the street' reporter with the Charlotte Observer, who interviewed us. We'll have to check out the paper tomorrow to see if we're in it!

It was getting to be time to head back for showers and to meet the bus for the welcome event, so we returned to the light rail platform.

A CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux walked by. Then we saw a woman in a bright blue dress with long very curly hair heading our way. We looked at each other and at the same time said: Is that Debbie Wasserman Schultz? It most certainly was. And we'd just packed away our cameras. Not to worry, though, she'll be at our breakfast meeting Tuesday! We'll get our pictures then. 

The hotel was a buzz as we all came to the lobby to await our chariot to the Levine Museum of the New South, where we were to party with OR, CO and AZ delegates. We waited...and waited...and ordered drinks from the bar...a bus!...chugged our drinks...false alarm, wrong bus...went back to finish the ice...bus!...false alarm...

Sat and talked with fellow delegate Karen Russell, from Seattle, for a while. She's worked for the Obama campaign from the start. We had Boston in common. She was born there, went to Harvard Law...oh, and her dad was a rather famous basketball player for the

Celtics...still no bus...

So being the resourceful people we are, had to go to plan B. Some jumped in cabs. The rest of us savvy light rail users headed back to the station. It was a joyful trainload of WA delegates finally on their way.

The museum was lovely, the food wonderful, drinks of all kinds, and a very loud band. I ate shrimp, smoked salmon, sweet potato fries.




Then  I had the most amazing grits with shrimp and Andouille sauce served in martini glasses. What a hit!

 The bus was waiting for us on schedule to go home. Apparently the earlier buses had gotten stuck in a huge traffic jam and couldn't get to the hotels.We had a little wind down in the hotel bar, and got to bed at a decent hour. Six AM rolls around fast!