Saturday, February 16th was a day to remember!  We headed north to Ripon for the Legion Oratorical State Finals.  What an amazing event!  We got to watch the 3 finalists give their prepared orations and then speak on an impromptu topic with only a brief time to prepare their remarks.  The first young woman was impressive and I thought to myself that it would be hard to top her performance.  I was wrong.  The other two contestants were equally as good if not better.  Each was distinctively different but the vast knowledge these young women had on the Constitution and the amazing stage presence were something to witness.  I understand the judging was extremely difficult.  In the end our own contestant from 4th District, Astha Berry was declared the winner and would represent Wisconsin in Indianapolis.

That evening we were guests at the 6th District Americanism Banquet. This is an annual event that honors members of the district for their outstanding contributions to the Americanism program.  It was a great evening and we truly enjoyed being part of it. 

We when we were done we had planned on heading right back to the hotel but got slightly sidetracked when a certain Diane engaged us in a lively conversation about...hummm, can't remember what!  We finally did let her head back home and went to our motel for a little rest.  It was going pretty good till we were getting a little cold in the room and found out the heat had quit!  Hotel management was very nice and moved us to a much warmer room on a very cold night!  Just one of those fun things when you travel.

It was quite a week, gone 6 nights and slept in 6 different beds!  Whew!!