An Inauguration Experience...

This is by far my most memorable inauguration.  The wonderful people at my parents' congressman's office set me up with two tickets to the inauguration.  I invited my friend Todd (the biggest Obama fan I knew).  Here is my picture book of the last few days.  

I went on Monday to pick up my tickets.  It was a peaceful experience for the most part.  The metro stop was a bit crazy.  It was actually so crazy that the metro person finally just started letting us all go without using our cards to make it go faster.   You can't really tell how packed it was...  

I got to the house office buildings to find quite a bit of a line.  I called up to the congressman's office to make sure I was in the right place.  The awesomely kind person who answered the phone (aka my hero of the day...) offered to bring my tickets to me.  I think this saved me approximately 3 hours of waiting to get in. (Someone said that the news reported a 3 hour wait to get tickets.)  AWESOME!!! I was ecstatic to have avoided such a crazy way to spend the afternoon.    

                             

So with my handy dandy invitations to the inauguration in my little mittens, I got back on the metro. (using a different metro stop--note the difference!)  



Back at my place, I packed every imaginable layer.  This included: running tights, compression shirt, smart wool socks, extra socks, jeans, long sleeve shirt, fleece pullover, and both layers of my fake North Face coat.  Yep--I was set.  And then some of us met for dinner before heading out.  



Todd's awesome friend let us crash at his place in DC so we wouldn't have to try to get into the city Tuesday morning.  It was a great plan.




We got to DC, hung out for a while, and then got all settled into our sleeping bags.  Fun times!

At 7ish the next morning, we put on those well-thought-out layers and set out.  

We walked, 



and walked, 



and walked some more. 




We stood in a line, and then some more lines...

After walking, standing in lines, and asking as many questions as possible, we got...nowhere.

We had been without food and water for hours...we had been smushed by all kinds of people.  It was a sad way to spend the day.  We finally split my Cliff Bar I had stored away.  

At 11:35 we admitted defeat.  We couldn't get to any point that would let us in.  Everything was either a gate to the parade, or a fence with no gate, or the wrong gate.  

In a moment of divine intervention, at 11:35, we stumbled upon the house office buildings.  We called up to my parents' congressman's office to see if they could direct us to a place where we could at least see the speech.  Out of the kindness of their hearts, they invited us up.  I was so glad to see the Arkansas flag that I actually started cheering and skipping to the door.  

They gave us water, Diet Coke, and Little Debbies.  And most importantly, they let us sit in their nice chairs and watch their TVs.  So there you have it.  We watched the 44th President being sworn in from a congressman's office.  I think it makes for a good story.  And I have to give much thanks to my parents' congressman's office.  


And that is how I spent my day.  The rest was not so eventful.  We quickly jumped on the metro on the opposite side of the capitol and were able to get home rather quickly.  

Comments

Elizabeth said…
How exciting! I have heard on the news several times that people WITH tickets still couldn't even get in! I don't understand why they wouldn't let you past any gates even though you had a ticket?? What insanity! Sounds like an adventure! :-)
January 21, 2009 at 5:49 AM
Meredith said…
There was a story on NPR about all the people with tickets that were turned away. You'll be happy to know that no one is taking responsibility but Congress has issued a statement that they'll look into it. They said there is a Facebook group for those that survived the "purple tunnel of doom". :) I suspect that may have been just where you were.
January 21, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Alan and/or Maranda said…
Wow, Laurel. That's crazy! I'm glad you at least got to get in out of the cold. Congrats on at least getting that far and being part of that moment in our history.
January 24, 2009 at 6:54 PM
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