And now for a brief political interlude...

As most all of you who read this blog know, I am a HUGE Obama fan. I was thrilled to see this poster on the side of the road into the Alaska State Fair. Ironically, this picture was taken two days before Gov. Palin was chosen as McCain's running mate....and the picture is taken in Palmer, the "sister city" to Wasilla, where Palin was mayor only a few years ago.

Which brings me to my utter confusion about McCain's pick. Wasilla is an absolutely beautiful town in a wide mountain valley, about an hour north of Anchorage. It is not a big place- one could even call it a sleepy town of about 6500 people. I am not going to pretend to be an expert on Alaska and Alaskan politics- I have only been here for about 7 weeks, but I think anyone driving through Wasilla might observe that being the town's mayor is a far cry from being the Vice President of the United States.

I don't know any more than what anyone has read in the papers about Governor Palin, and it is hard to get an exact feel from the Alaskans around here. I have heard differing opinions- one person saying she is a "total freak", while another saying that she had a lot of  guts to get rid of some corrupt people at the state level when she took office two short years ago.  But I do know one thing that most Alaskans I have talked to seem to agree on: Wasilla is small, with small town politics. Now put that into perspective: if the town is considered small by Alaskan standards? Well, that is small. And the role of the Vice President is anything but.

I will keep you updated if I hear any other local news about this Palin character...in the meantime...GO OBAMA!!!!!!!!!