Tea Party Olympia, WA 2009

I decided to play hookie from work for a few hours today and go to Olympia for the Tea Party. So I packed my gear, which included some pork sandwiches (okay, ham & cheese biscuits) some grapes and my trusty "Tea Party, Right Wing Patrioterrorist* " hat, (*per DHS standards)

Then I hit the road for Olympia... without carpooling. Ever the defiant child. When I reached Olympia the event was already starting to take shape and parking was remote. So I joined an intrepid group of distant parkers and hopped the shuttle bus directly to the Capital. The plaza between the Legislative building and the Judicial Building was awash in humanity, signs and excitement. People were fired up and ready to (tea) party like it was 1773!!

They came in from all over the western part of the state, from places like:

Puyallup
Seattle

Winlock

Milton University Place

Maple Valley

Enumclaw

Bellevue
Morton

Onalaska

Shelton

Orting

Fox Island
Ocean Shores
Montesano
Monroe
Olalla
Auburn
Tenino
They filled the plaza and spilled up the stairs of the Legislative Building and the Judicial Building

They were older...
And younger...
And in between...

But they all had something they wanted to say!



Even if it didn't really... make sense at the moment...

But whatever the original motivation of those who attended, we all left with the same question burning in our minds.....

It was a delightful, amazing exercise in American Democracy. I was thrilled to be part of it. There were no fights, no cars burned, no confrontations with police... in fact there weren't even that many police visible. All in all, I'm sure we were a great disappointment to those compilers of Department of Homeland Security watch lists. Well, except for the guy with the Sonics sign. I'm not sure what they might think about that one!

Tomorrow.... all those signs! Those amazing, creative signs that were so proudly and defiantly waved by their creators! I spent two hours at the event and took over 300 pictures, so you KNOW there were lots of wonderful signs. Thus, in the spirit of the grand old cliff-hangers of yore...

See you tomorrow!