We made it. Barely! Still feeling queasy and exhausted (thanks for all the kind get-well e-mails), but was glad I held out long enough to meet so many nice, cool people at CPAC yesterday.

Hubby and kids had a great time wandering around the cavernous Ronald Reagan building, a behemoth, federally-subsidized architectural irony which I went on record hating a long time ago (see Seattle Times archives). Many other CPAC attendees grumbled about the building, too, including blogger Radley Balko, who makes many of the same points I made in my Times column from way back.

I missed the surprise Drudge appearance at Ann Coulter’s afternoon talk and the Franken fireworks. Also missed seeing this woman, who was apparently the hit of CPAC (hubby spotted her and agrees with the rave reviews).

I did see bloggers, bloggers everywhere. At the risk of sounding like Chris Matthews (egads!), I can’t get over how YOUNG so many of the bloggers are. What are you? Like 18? Heh. Photo here with Sweetheart of the Blogosphere La Shawn Barber. More pics here, here, and here. Video and too kind comments from Kevin McCullough here.

Looking pretty ragged here, but it was a pleasure meeting James Joyner of OTB. Also met another of my blog faves, Bryan Preston of Junkyard Blog.

C-SPAN was there, taping short segments with all of the authors who came for book signings. They will be playing the interviews on Book TV in between longer programs.

The YAF event was lovely. The incomparable Ann Coulter delighted the crowd as always. Wish I could have stuck around longer to mingle, but my legs were giving out and the kids were getting antsy. (My son was enthralled with a roll of duct tape that he rolled down the vast hallways of the Reagan building, but its magic wore off after 40 minutes.)

Much more CPAC blogging, including accounts of last night’s banquet honoring the Swift Boat vets, here.