Obama-rama
Alright, so it's been a month now. STILL no damn pictures from my sister. So whatever. I'll add them later.
When I found out my nephew was going to be in the Inaugural Parade, I started planning with my sister to go. She wanted to, but since all hotels were sold out by the time we found out, she didn't see how to do it. I called up my friend Bri, who is an attorney in D.C. these days. Not only did she let us stay, but she also got up at 4am to get us to the station. She refused to go into D.C., too many tourists. :P
All the policing was a total bitch, with having to walk several blocks around barricades and all that. And iIt was DAMN cold. I literally froze my butt off, 45 minutes after getting back to my friend's house, my ass cheeks were still tingling. My toes were little popsicles. But even with the craziness of the day, everyone was so cheerful and merry throughout the whole event. The energy was so strong and positive.
I got there at 5 AM, went up from the train platform and then...stood. There was a bottleneck at the exit machine thingees. My sister has a picture over the crowd (grumble). Anywho, then to get across the mall was a bitch, and when we got to the security checkpoint for the parade route, turns out not all checkpoints were an entrance. Just one at the beginning and at the end, at which point you walk to the different check points once inside. We walked around forever, trying to get better info, as the shipped in cops didn't know much (on purpose I'm sure). We finally went to the north checkpoint and waited for the gates to be opened. Checkpoints were supposed to open at 7am, but didn't open til 8:30. People were chit chatting and singing and all that. Once we got through, everyone moved forward to that checkpoint, because at this point we didn't know there were others actually open. We went nowhere for a while, as the crowd was so thick. Someone then came to inform people there were shorter lines down the way. We finally got through another checkpoint at 11AM! We were already freezing then, as it was in the 20's, and teens with windchill factor. It was anti climactic, in that there was plenty of space to stand up against the barricade, no major fuss there, and it was mostly empty where we were. Oh, and I used a Porta Potty for the first time. I think they cleared out every potty for like several states, there were SO many everywhere. On the Mall, I'm sure it still wasn't enough, but on the parade route there were no lines.
At noon was the oath, and we could hear it but not see, since there were no screens on the parade route. We could see snipers on top of buildings, as well as tents and parties on roofs. I could see down the length of Pennsylvania to the Capitol and see little peope-ants out there. But that was about it. Everyone was dead quiet listening to the speech. Except for the occassional, Amen!. After that, the parade was supposed to start at 2:30 but didn't til 3:30 due to Ted Kennedy falling out at the luncheon. Which we didn't know at the time.
Once the parade finally started, it was painful as it was walking speed. But as it turned out, we were standing between the FBI building and the Dept of Justice. This meant we were in the shade between tall buildings, can you say, FROZEN (probably felt about 10 degrees)? However, it also meant the couples were out of the cars and walking down the street, as it was a safe area. Later my sister spotted us on TV, from where she had recorded on DVR. No one would know it was us, though. Since we are completely bundled in the cold and half covered by Michelle Obama.
Then there was some delay on the rest of the parade starting, for the President to get in the viewing booth. Luckily my nephew's band was like 3rd or 4th in the procession. It also worked out lovely that he was on our side of the road, towards the back. Third guy in, playing his clarinet. With his grand puba hat on. Heh. From there, we followed the band, hoping to see when they stopped to play. And they did that, right as they turned the last corner where we could have followed. Because the band is over 400 people, it meant my nephew was right by us. And so we have video of him playing at the parade. Course, *I* don't have this video. (grumble).
Then we made our convoluted way back to the train station. The whole place was a MESS. Trash every where. The escalators were turned off (or possibly broken) due to trash. There was a decided lack of trash bins around the city, no surprise there. So everything ended up on the floor. We got back to my friend's place, and she went and got several late edition Washington Posts for us and her family.
That is all I have for souvenirs. My commemorative all day train ticket and a newspaper. And that I can scan! YAY!
When I found out my nephew was going to be in the Inaugural Parade, I started planning with my sister to go. She wanted to, but since all hotels were sold out by the time we found out, she didn't see how to do it. I called up my friend Bri, who is an attorney in D.C. these days. Not only did she let us stay, but she also got up at 4am to get us to the station. She refused to go into D.C., too many tourists. :P
All the policing was a total bitch, with having to walk several blocks around barricades and all that. And iIt was DAMN cold. I literally froze my butt off, 45 minutes after getting back to my friend's house, my ass cheeks were still tingling. My toes were little popsicles. But even with the craziness of the day, everyone was so cheerful and merry throughout the whole event. The energy was so strong and positive.
I got there at 5 AM, went up from the train platform and then...stood. There was a bottleneck at the exit machine thingees. My sister has a picture over the crowd (grumble). Anywho, then to get across the mall was a bitch, and when we got to the security checkpoint for the parade route, turns out not all checkpoints were an entrance. Just one at the beginning and at the end, at which point you walk to the different check points once inside. We walked around forever, trying to get better info, as the shipped in cops didn't know much (on purpose I'm sure). We finally went to the north checkpoint and waited for the gates to be opened. Checkpoints were supposed to open at 7am, but didn't open til 8:30. People were chit chatting and singing and all that. Once we got through, everyone moved forward to that checkpoint, because at this point we didn't know there were others actually open. We went nowhere for a while, as the crowd was so thick. Someone then came to inform people there were shorter lines down the way. We finally got through another checkpoint at 11AM! We were already freezing then, as it was in the 20's, and teens with windchill factor. It was anti climactic, in that there was plenty of space to stand up against the barricade, no major fuss there, and it was mostly empty where we were. Oh, and I used a Porta Potty for the first time. I think they cleared out every potty for like several states, there were SO many everywhere. On the Mall, I'm sure it still wasn't enough, but on the parade route there were no lines.
At noon was the oath, and we could hear it but not see, since there were no screens on the parade route. We could see snipers on top of buildings, as well as tents and parties on roofs. I could see down the length of Pennsylvania to the Capitol and see little peope-ants out there. But that was about it. Everyone was dead quiet listening to the speech. Except for the occassional, Amen!. After that, the parade was supposed to start at 2:30 but didn't til 3:30 due to Ted Kennedy falling out at the luncheon. Which we didn't know at the time.
Once the parade finally started, it was painful as it was walking speed. But as it turned out, we were standing between the FBI building and the Dept of Justice. This meant we were in the shade between tall buildings, can you say, FROZEN (probably felt about 10 degrees)? However, it also meant the couples were out of the cars and walking down the street, as it was a safe area. Later my sister spotted us on TV, from where she had recorded on DVR. No one would know it was us, though. Since we are completely bundled in the cold and half covered by Michelle Obama.
Then there was some delay on the rest of the parade starting, for the President to get in the viewing booth. Luckily my nephew's band was like 3rd or 4th in the procession. It also worked out lovely that he was on our side of the road, towards the back. Third guy in, playing his clarinet. With his grand puba hat on. Heh. From there, we followed the band, hoping to see when they stopped to play. And they did that, right as they turned the last corner where we could have followed. Because the band is over 400 people, it meant my nephew was right by us. And so we have video of him playing at the parade. Course, *I* don't have this video. (grumble).
Then we made our convoluted way back to the train station. The whole place was a MESS. Trash every where. The escalators were turned off (or possibly broken) due to trash. There was a decided lack of trash bins around the city, no surprise there. So everything ended up on the floor. We got back to my friend's place, and she went and got several late edition Washington Posts for us and her family.
That is all I have for souvenirs. My commemorative all day train ticket and a newspaper. And that I can scan! YAY!