Inauguration Day

I hope no claustrophobics attempted to navigate within these crowds.  I have never seen anything like this - ever.  Our day began around 6am.  We left the place we were staying and met up w/ friends near Dupont Circle.  Together, we all walked down 18th Street to the Mall.  The trek there was probably one of the highlights.  It was incredible to see people converging from so many different paths.  Volunteers from different organizations were handing out food, nametage, buttons, etc...  We all received nametags that said: "Hello my fellow American, my name is ___."

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by people from the National Park Service.  They thanked us for coming and told us they were glad we were there.  It was touching.  We quickly began meeting people from all over the country.  Ironically, we ended up beside a group of folks from Columbia, SC!  It took us a little while to stake out our spot, eventually we settled on on a place, probably about 4 jumbo trons back.  For a short gal, I could see pretty well.  The sound was pumped loudly everywhere.  My favorite part of the pre-ceremony music was everyone joining in singing "This Land Is Your Land," led by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen - I choked up.  While we were singing, I noticed an elderly woman who was enjoying the music just as much as I.  There's a picture of us on our Picasa page.  Turns out she was 90 years old and came from Philadelphia - she was a Quaker.  

One of the most memorable parts of the day was the insane crowd after the ceremony let out.  I'd say it took us at least an hour to just get off the Mall.  We sought refuge up against a nearby building to try to look for other ways to navigate the crowd.  We were able to climb up on the steps to get some pictures of the madness (check the Picasa page).  Crowds that large can be kind of frightening.  Luckily, everyone was calm and patient for the most part.  We were glad we had stashed all kinds of power bars and snacks into our pockets.  I saw the satellite picture of the crowds on CNN - I'd love to have a blown up print of that image.  

We walked back to our friend's apartment and waited a while.  Got back to our place around 5 - the Metro was crowded, but not more so than during a regular rush hour.  I'm certain that would not have been the case had we not waited.  

The coverage of the parade and balls was fun to watch on television.  What an experience this has been.  I'm looking forward to getting home --  I'm ready for this New Era of Responsibility of which Obama spoke.