dnc
our dnc day started out CRAPTASTIC because we had to go to boulder to return our zippy loaner car and pick up my repaired car. (when i got into my car i thought i was driving with the parking brake on because i had gotten so used to the incredible acceleration of the loaner. i have a 2001 saab 9-5 with turbo and it was a 2008 saab 9-3 sport with turbo.)
so, we were very late getting going down town. since there was no parking for security reasons, we parked at the westminster park and ride and took our first public transportation in denver! wiley's first bus and light rail - AND the first time he ever rode in a vehicle facing forward ;)
wiley in the wrap waiting for the bus
on the bus!
we were supposed to take the light rail then to invesco directly, but the line was so long that getting out there put is in the middle of the line, so they sent us a stop or two further and made us walk even further away from the stadium to get to the end of the serpentine line. we ended up being in the line for about 2 miles and 2.5 hours.
this is when we FINALLY could see the stadium, after about 1.5 hours in the line.
and as we were walking this long line, there were people selling obama crap ("obama watches, what time is it? time for change!") and water (thank god) and also protesting. i took a picture (quickly, because the line was really moving by then and no way was i stopping) of this one, informing us that none of this matters, as we're all going to hell. lovely! a girl i had been chatting with that was their with her mom (we in the line all got to know each other over the course of our long journey) got right up in his face and said something. i didn't hear it, but those people ought to be ignored and moved past. goading them is totally what they want! duh, people!
when we got there, i got us to the top floor where our seats were and tried to obtain food. i hadn't eaten all day, and wasn't expecting to be in a hot sun line for a hundred years. wiley was also hungry, so i nursed him in the line. the people standing behind me in this photo were CUTTERS in the line. they FAIL.
i was a mess of exhaustion by the time i got to our section. carrying an almost 18lb child for 3 hours in the hot sun while walking over 2 miles is tiring. i had to take him out of the wrap and use the wrap to cover him up, as i didn't plan for an extended period in the sun. (which was stupid because the stadium is open air, but i thought there'd be some roofish thing over the seats, but no. thank goodness for the changing pad and the wrap!
the bright spot occurred here, because as i was facing the daunting task of carrying wiley up the totally steep stairs to the very top of the stadium (i mean, top. there was ONE row behind us and then the wall), a woman hopped up from her seat and offered to carry my food or my bag because i was alone with the baby and she had a baby and couldn't imagine being there alone with her baby. she later came up to our seats and asked if she could save them for me while i went to the bathroom or could she get me a drink or anything. she was SUPER FAB and why everyone should be a democrat. to be like her!
i also ended up sitting across from the one guy in the stadium wearing a mccain 2008 t-shirt. he was an old guy, but he looked kind of like bruiser and it seemed like he was just waiting for someone to egg him on. no one did. HA. FAIL.
it was VERY steep and high, and until i really got used to it, i clutched wiley for dear life so that he wouldn't fall tumbling down to the floor and land on the delegation from guam. i even changed him behind me on the floor of the seats above me (on the changing pad! of course!) so that i wouldn't have to try and carry him down the steep and scary stairs. i made brandon take him when we left.
it maybe doesn't seem so high, but look across at the very top seats in the sections you can see. we are EVEN with those top seats.
wiley nursed a lot. at one point before sheryl crow and after will.i.am, we were on the JUMBOTRON nursing, but the focus was clearly the teenyboppers on the wall behind us dancing with the flags. but there we were!
the news organizations all had their little tents set up on the floor, which looked kind of neat.
then al gore spoke! i made the people behind me take a picture, but they unfortunately left out the big jumbotron so that you could have seen that the speck at the podium was al gore, but believe me. it totally was. and i made a very shaky video for erin! and then i had to move to let someone through to their seat and forgot i was still videoing.
as the sun went down i noticed the security people on the box. there were the same kind of guys stationed on each of the four sides of the stadium with what looked like those crazy binocular sighting things. i assume they were stopping terrorism or some such thing that you do with crazy binocular sighting things.
FINALLY those crazy bastards at fedex let brandon leave and he managed to navigate himself to us. JUST IN TIME, too, because he got there when the regular folks were speaking before obama.
since i was at the almost top and my seat on the aisle was equal to the top step, the volunteer girl who had signs to pass out sat right next to me and asked me "do you know who dick durbin is? he's my cue." i told her i wouldn't let her miss dick durbin, and we got signs first. there was definitely not enough for even close to everyone, so people were like, "OMG SIGN! MA'AM CAN I HAVE ONE??" to her as she was walking down and i was all. i have a sign. yep. i do. it's in our window now ;) if you saw the blue signs all over that said CHANGE, that's the one. (oh! and the little screens along the center of the stadium said things like "barackobama.com" and stuff, and then when people were speaking they'd change to say things like "america" and "change" and then they'd flash - america america america or change change change! it was hilarity.
so then there's dick durbin and a video about obama and whatever, and then he comes in! and it's all FLASHBULB CITY!
and then wiley TOTALLY nurses right through his actual acceptance! however, brandon does not video right through it, and we get half a sentence. oh well.
so then wiley decides after awhile of obama speaking that he really wanted to speak, too, so we had to get up and go to the stairwell at the bottom of our section because the stadium of 80,000 was as silent as a stadium of 80K can be and it wasn't fair to those around us listening.
FINALLY, it was all done and we left. as we were going down the escalator the fireworks started and they were shot off from the top of the building or really close or something, because it was just a huge BOOM explosion and OMG i thought it was a bomb or something. EVERYONE on the escalator jumped about three feet.
we actually ended up getting home by about 10pm - we were on the first lightrail train to get out of the station and on the first boulder bus back to westminster. getting out was actually LOADS easier than getting in ;)
so, we were very late getting going down town. since there was no parking for security reasons, we parked at the westminster park and ride and took our first public transportation in denver! wiley's first bus and light rail - AND the first time he ever rode in a vehicle facing forward ;)
wiley in the wrap waiting for the bus
on the bus!
we were supposed to take the light rail then to invesco directly, but the line was so long that getting out there put is in the middle of the line, so they sent us a stop or two further and made us walk even further away from the stadium to get to the end of the serpentine line. we ended up being in the line for about 2 miles and 2.5 hours.
this is when we FINALLY could see the stadium, after about 1.5 hours in the line.
and as we were walking this long line, there were people selling obama crap ("obama watches, what time is it? time for change!") and water (thank god) and also protesting. i took a picture (quickly, because the line was really moving by then and no way was i stopping) of this one, informing us that none of this matters, as we're all going to hell. lovely! a girl i had been chatting with that was their with her mom (we in the line all got to know each other over the course of our long journey) got right up in his face and said something. i didn't hear it, but those people ought to be ignored and moved past. goading them is totally what they want! duh, people!
when we got there, i got us to the top floor where our seats were and tried to obtain food. i hadn't eaten all day, and wasn't expecting to be in a hot sun line for a hundred years. wiley was also hungry, so i nursed him in the line. the people standing behind me in this photo were CUTTERS in the line. they FAIL.
i was a mess of exhaustion by the time i got to our section. carrying an almost 18lb child for 3 hours in the hot sun while walking over 2 miles is tiring. i had to take him out of the wrap and use the wrap to cover him up, as i didn't plan for an extended period in the sun. (which was stupid because the stadium is open air, but i thought there'd be some roofish thing over the seats, but no. thank goodness for the changing pad and the wrap!
the bright spot occurred here, because as i was facing the daunting task of carrying wiley up the totally steep stairs to the very top of the stadium (i mean, top. there was ONE row behind us and then the wall), a woman hopped up from her seat and offered to carry my food or my bag because i was alone with the baby and she had a baby and couldn't imagine being there alone with her baby. she later came up to our seats and asked if she could save them for me while i went to the bathroom or could she get me a drink or anything. she was SUPER FAB and why everyone should be a democrat. to be like her!
i also ended up sitting across from the one guy in the stadium wearing a mccain 2008 t-shirt. he was an old guy, but he looked kind of like bruiser and it seemed like he was just waiting for someone to egg him on. no one did. HA. FAIL.
it was VERY steep and high, and until i really got used to it, i clutched wiley for dear life so that he wouldn't fall tumbling down to the floor and land on the delegation from guam. i even changed him behind me on the floor of the seats above me (on the changing pad! of course!) so that i wouldn't have to try and carry him down the steep and scary stairs. i made brandon take him when we left.
it maybe doesn't seem so high, but look across at the very top seats in the sections you can see. we are EVEN with those top seats.
wiley nursed a lot. at one point before sheryl crow and after will.i.am, we were on the JUMBOTRON nursing, but the focus was clearly the teenyboppers on the wall behind us dancing with the flags. but there we were!
the news organizations all had their little tents set up on the floor, which looked kind of neat.
then al gore spoke! i made the people behind me take a picture, but they unfortunately left out the big jumbotron so that you could have seen that the speck at the podium was al gore, but believe me. it totally was. and i made a very shaky video for erin! and then i had to move to let someone through to their seat and forgot i was still videoing.
Click to viewas the sun went down i noticed the security people on the box. there were the same kind of guys stationed on each of the four sides of the stadium with what looked like those crazy binocular sighting things. i assume they were stopping terrorism or some such thing that you do with crazy binocular sighting things.
FINALLY those crazy bastards at fedex let brandon leave and he managed to navigate himself to us. JUST IN TIME, too, because he got there when the regular folks were speaking before obama.
since i was at the almost top and my seat on the aisle was equal to the top step, the volunteer girl who had signs to pass out sat right next to me and asked me "do you know who dick durbin is? he's my cue." i told her i wouldn't let her miss dick durbin, and we got signs first. there was definitely not enough for even close to everyone, so people were like, "OMG SIGN! MA'AM CAN I HAVE ONE??" to her as she was walking down and i was all. i have a sign. yep. i do. it's in our window now ;) if you saw the blue signs all over that said CHANGE, that's the one. (oh! and the little screens along the center of the stadium said things like "barackobama.com" and stuff, and then when people were speaking they'd change to say things like "america" and "change" and then they'd flash - america america america or change change change! it was hilarity.
so then there's dick durbin and a video about obama and whatever, and then he comes in! and it's all FLASHBULB CITY!
and then wiley TOTALLY nurses right through his actual acceptance! however, brandon does not video right through it, and we get half a sentence. oh well.
so then wiley decides after awhile of obama speaking that he really wanted to speak, too, so we had to get up and go to the stairwell at the bottom of our section because the stadium of 80,000 was as silent as a stadium of 80K can be and it wasn't fair to those around us listening.
FINALLY, it was all done and we left. as we were going down the escalator the fireworks started and they were shot off from the top of the building or really close or something, because it was just a huge BOOM explosion and OMG i thought it was a bomb or something. EVERYONE on the escalator jumped about three feet.
we actually ended up getting home by about 10pm - we were on the first lightrail train to get out of the station and on the first boulder bus back to westminster. getting out was actually LOADS easier than getting in ;)