T.E.A. Party USA

In search of a mini-vacation and driven by idle curiosity, we decided to pack up the kiddos and head to historic Quincy, Illinois to witness first hand what all the TEA Party/9-12 fuss was all about. For those of you who are wondering, "what's so historic about Quincy? I thought it was just that town that's by Nauvoo," let me remind you that it was there, about 150 years ago during the presidential campaign that a young Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas had their sixth debate. Riveting history, I know. It's now a pretty hammered river-town with a few dirty parks. But any time we can get out and spend the night in a hotel is a welcome adventure. We accidentally booked a room at the official Tea party headquarters where we hoped to bump into Tucker Carlson, that handsome, bow-tie sporting Fox News pundit or Andrew Breitbart. But alas, we only saw Dana Loesh, the foxy, conservative radio personality of the greater St. Louis area. The party didn't start until 1:00, so we spent the morning driving through ghetto Quincy in search of a park. The best we came across was a riverfront park complete with swarms of mosquitoes and a creepy metal detector dude combing through the mulch at the playground. What could possibly be worth the trouble? To each his own I guess. We found ourselves at a fabulous Greek restaurant for lunch where we met some fellow St. Louisans with a little girl Benjamin's age. They all had fun giving blow-fishes on the fish tank. Not knowing quite what to expect, we were devastatingly ill prepared to entertain two young boys during a political rally for 4-5 hours. The St. Louisans were nice enough to let us share their spot of ground which was great, but we had to be vigilant about keeping any of the thousands of old cigarette butts out of Peter's mouth. Benjamin and Margot had fun playing with her tractors and watching Shrek on their portable DVD player. Benjamin would tell you that the highlights from the trip were the blue mailbox, his new friend Margot, and the "stinky yellow potties (portapotties), that were soooo stinky." Some of our favorite parts: Reading Twilight together in the car, Andrew Breitbart's speech, and the hot (says Sarah) 27 year old congressman from Illinois who gave the best political speech I've ever heard, hands down. Oh to be 27 again! Best sign goes to "You Can't Multiply Wealth by ÷ It." All in all it was a fascinating slice of Americana. Good times.