From February 21st to February 24th, I wandered away from the Great Land (bear in mind that it gets more difficult and uncomfortable every day for me to leave Alaska for any reason at all, except maybe visiting kids and grandkids.) But this was, as I reckoned it, a worthy reason: I went hither to National Harbor, Maryland, to attend the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. It was a considerable journey: A 90-minute drive to Anchorage, a nearly 6-hour flight to Denver, and then a 4-hour flight to Reagan International Airport. While at CPAC I had occasion to compare notes with a colleague from the UK and determined that, yes, I had traveled farther than he had.

When I arrived, I went to check into my lodgings, only to find myself refused – and, yes, I will call the bastards out, I had reservations at the Club Wyndham, a short walk from the venue, and they were massively overbooked; I managed to find lodgings at a cheap-sleep motel in Arlington, about a fifteen-minute drive away. This led to the necessity of taking an Uber ride each way instead of walking, but I took the opportunity to make some lemonade out of those lemons and, on my morning and evening trips, I conducted an informal survey of my Uber drivers, every one of whom was an immigrant. You can read the results of that here.

On the first day, I slipped away from the venue with a couple of my RedState colleagues to see the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery, which was a deeply moving event; if you’re ever in the area, I can’t recommend it enough. The ceremony, the precision, the tradition; it was, to understate it a little, impressive.

While there were a lot of speakers, I spent a lot of time wandering around the venue rather than parking myself in the “Media” pit. I spent some time outside in the smoking area, enjoying a cigar and talking with some guys who represented the informal “Maple Leaf MAGA” movement, and they had the caps (and accents, eh) to prove it. These Canadian types realized as they told me, that Canada’s economy depends in large part on the U.S., and they are convinced that the election of Donald Trump would benefit not only America’s economy but also Canada’s. They were not friends, buddies, or guys of Justin Castro Trudeau but didn’t offer any opinions as to when the Canadian PM might be set adrift.

I was also interviewed briefly by Newsmax’s John Tabacco of “Wise Guys with John Tabacco,” who was interested in getting to chat with an Alaskan.

Several of the CPAC speakers stood out. Mark Levin was absolutely on fire during his segment, and he had the crowd on their feet several times. Tulsi Gabbard spoke about her political evolution, and she sure seems to have been red-pilled in the last few years.

And, of course, on the last day, there was Donald Trump.

Whatever anyone thinks of Trump, he knows how to fire up a crowd. He told jokes, and he repeatedly went off-script, walking away from the mike a couple of times to act out parts of his long-winded stories. He does a great impression of the befuddled, shuffling Joe Biden. About halfway through his speech, he wandered off into a stream-of-consciousness story which started in Mexico and wandered over to Iraq, describing a harrowing night landing in Air Force One, then he went on to meet some generals and an unknown soldier named “Raisin” Cane. The story eventually wandered back to Mexico and how he negotiated Mexico’s help in closing the border, but whereas if Joe Biden had wandered off like that, people would have wondered just what the hell was going on; somehow, though, Trump made it work, producing laughter and cheers from the crowd. This crowd, at least, loved the guy. Trump was predictably Trump, right down to showing up almost an hour late. He gave a noteworthy speech, showing humor, a penchant for storytelling, some needle-pointed jabs at Joe Biden, and in short, came off as what he is – a real-estate guy from Queens.

I hung around to see Argentinian President Javier Milei, who was uncharacteristically subdued and wonky, but he has a good command of the value of free-market economics. I felt for him, though; following Trump was a tough row to hoe with that crowd.

One of the greatest things about events like this is the occasional chance to shake hands with someone and say “Hey, I’ve always wanted to meet you!”  During this event, I not only got some face-to-face time with my RedState colleagues, but also with pundit and author Kurt Schlichter, Townhall’s Larry O’Connor, and a bevy of motivated and enthusiastic attendees. I was interviewed by Newsmax’s John Tabacco, and just generally spent a lot of time gassing with people hanging around.

In summary? The whole thing was, for me, worth the trip. Now that I’m pretty firmly established in a second career in journalism, this was worth attending not only for the presenters but also for the chance to meet other people in the business. Will I go back? Probably not until the next presidential election year.  Part of the reason I attended this year was because of all the hooraw about this fall’s election, and I doubt I’ll make that long journey in a year when there just isn’t as much going on.

But then, who knows what might happen next?