We survived and it was Awesome!

Finally here are the pictures and proof that we made it to the inauguration!

We took our kids to our friends house at 8:30 a.m. Ironically I had to wake Naomi up at 8, she was actually going to sleep in on the one day in her existence I didn't want her to. 

We then caught a metro train at 9 a.m. down town and got there by about 9:30. 

I wish I would have taken some photos of those first few blocks. It was chaos. There were people wandering in every direction, newspapers littered all over the usually very clean city streets. It was surprising. I just has assumed that it would be orderly and people would know where to go, that there would be signs and helpful officers and volunteers. 

There were plenty of armed officials everywhere but most didn't know where to send people. We got a different answer each time we asked where to get in for General Admission. 

There were people with tickets for closer to the capitol, and they all had specific entrances depending the the ticket color. 

The entrance points on the pre-inauguration maps were for some reason changed now on the morning of and we were told we needed to go to the "3rd street tunnel" to the other side of the mall. That would actually be the 2nd street tunnel, so walk interstate 395 around to the other side of the mall. 

Ok. 

Once on the other side there were helpful volunteers who knew what they were talking about. They told us to take a right and walk on down to 14th street. So basically the whole length of the mall. About 12 blocks more. 

It wasn't too bad, we had lots of company!

 

Apparently the original access point that we thought we could get in at had been closed because that part of the mall was full to capacity, so due to the parade route filling up, and the ticketed areas needing separate entrances, the rest of the general admission needed to enter from the back door of the mall, the South side. 

We literally got stuck in a crowd of people right before we made it onto the mall. There were firetrucks and buses blocking the flow of people for a while and people were getting upset about it. It was amazing how people loose their sense of respect for individuals in a large group like that. Mob mentality I suppose.

Where we were stuck:

 

Once they cleared out of the way we were able to just walk onto the mall at the Washington Monument by about 11 a.m. There was supposed to be security checks for everyone entering the mall but I guess they gave up on that... 

There was a crowd but not too crazy where we were. People seemed to have enough personal space. We were in view of one of many mega-trons on the mall. I had to be on my toes most of the time to get a full screen view though. I felt for people shorter than me, they couldn't see the screen and thus the program at all.

My face was cold but otherwise I was warm enough. We wore thermals under our clothes and all that walking kept the blood pumping too I'm sure. Also, the 30 or so degrees it was downtown felt downright balmy compared to the teen temperatures from the proceeding days. The sun was shining and we had made it in! It was a great day.

 

I tried to send a text, make a call,  check my voicemail before the program started but my cell signal kept dying out and then my phone would just be unable to compete calls or send anything. Some people seemed to be using their phones ok but I had heard that the Secret Service was possibly going to cut all cell service during the inauguration. We heard lots of crazy rumors. I don't know if the Secret Service can even do that?

It was a great experience to be there, the masses were amazing. I have never seen so many people at once in my life, and to be a part of it! Did you see me on TV? :)

Behind us there were people all the way up the steps of the Lincoln memorial. It was surreal how many people were filling up the downtown.

This is our view back to the Lincoln:

 

Cheering for President Obama:

We both really enjoyed President Obama's speech. I thought he did a great job. It was an overall great program, with a few little exceptions. 

I didn't really like the invocation. 

At all. 

Ok, I hated it. 

The benediction was much, much nicer. I felt like he was actually praying to God, not giving a speech under the guise of a prayer. 

Also, Aretha sang nicely, but her hat was intense. Yikes. 

Yo Yo Ma and co. was so beautiful, even over the loudspeaker that we were listening to.

The walk back to the metro was quick, the crowds were light. People were hanging around and partying, taking their time to get out and home. 

It was odd, once again, to be walking down the middle of a major freeway in a city. It was cool too, felt a little like the movies or something. 

Once we got to the Union Station metro there was a very big crowd to get down the escalators to the trains. It moved relatively quickly and we were on our way! We made it home to our apartment by 2:30. I was impressed, I was worried we would be stuck waiting to get on the metro forever.

Our dear friend was more than ready to hand our children back over to us. James followed her around and demanded to be held or whine and cry. She has a baby of her own too, who is not yet mobile though. 

And Naomi dearest, decided that a certain "rock" was "dirty" and needed to be flushed. 

What!? 

She flushed a large (3 or so inches) massage stone down the toilet! 

Naomi has never in her life flushed anything (other than the obvious). 

I was seriously mortified. Hopefully the toilet doesn't die. I'm afraid it might though, a rock, seriously.

So, we were there at the the Inauguration of the 44th president of the United Sates of America and first African American president. I am so glad we did this, we couldn't have passed up on such a fantastic opportunity. 

And no one even set off a bomb! 

All kidding aside, I did worry about that...

Zach with the Capital (very small) in the background: