Inauguration
So, inauguration was a pretty fantastic scene. I woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep, just anxiously replaying in my head all the plans to get there and back and backups and etc. Finally left the house at 6:15am with Sarah and her parents, and met Colleen at the bus stop. We made it to the mall in about 45 minutes, and it looked like this:
We knew we wouldn't get close enough to actually see much in person, so just camped out at a prime spot near a jumbotron that was relatively close to the bus home. It was pretty cold, so we were all heavily layers and had two sets of toe warmers and all that. I was still feeling pretty lousy from bronchitis, so I mostly sat on a folding stool and huddled during the preliminary hours. Anyway, once the ceremony started, the energy was just incredible. Everyone was so emotional, and excited, and tense waiting for the swearing-in. Definitely a great time to be in DC. I took more video than pictures b/c it better captured the energy of the crowd, but I have a few pictures here for those interested:
http://flickr.com/photos/13829298@N00/tags/inauguration/
A movie of the swearing-in and the crowd's reaction is here:
http://flickr.com/photos/13829298@N00/3231451893/
Getting home took several hours and a lot of patience and bladder control, but the fact that we packed 2 million people into the mall without a single violent incident or arrest is miraculous, and hopefully a good omen of things to come (as is the fact I didn't get sicker from staying outside all day). Jon 1, Bronchitis 0.
We knew we wouldn't get close enough to actually see much in person, so just camped out at a prime spot near a jumbotron that was relatively close to the bus home. It was pretty cold, so we were all heavily layers and had two sets of toe warmers and all that. I was still feeling pretty lousy from bronchitis, so I mostly sat on a folding stool and huddled during the preliminary hours. Anyway, once the ceremony started, the energy was just incredible. Everyone was so emotional, and excited, and tense waiting for the swearing-in. Definitely a great time to be in DC. I took more video than pictures b/c it better captured the energy of the crowd, but I have a few pictures here for those interested:
http://flickr.com/photos/13829298@N00/tags/inauguration/
A movie of the swearing-in and the crowd's reaction is here:
http://flickr.com/photos/13829298@N00/3231451893/
Getting home took several hours and a lot of patience and bladder control, but the fact that we packed 2 million people into the mall without a single violent incident or arrest is miraculous, and hopefully a good omen of things to come (as is the fact I didn't get sicker from staying outside all day). Jon 1, Bronchitis 0.