Inauguration

I got behind on my blog. As usual. Like other things in my life, I make grand plans and then get lazy. Really need to work on that.

I meant to write an entry about the Inauguration within a week after it happened. Instead, it is now almost 2 months later and I am making a half-assed attempted since it’s not exactly of-the-moment news. Here’s my little contribution.

I decided to go to Inauguration this year for several reasons. First, it was to be a historic event and it would be a cool things to tell people years from now. Second, I went to Bush’s first Inauguration in 2001 since I still lived in DC at the time and thought it would be cool to go to another one, especially since I was actually happy about this president taking office. Third, I hadn’t been to DC in several years and missed the place and my friends, so I thought it would be a perfect time to go – see my friends and see something historic with 2 million of my fellow citizens.

I went down the Sunday before and stayed with my friend, we’ll call him Sweatshirt Puppeteer, or SP (again, I started a trend of no real names, so let’s keep it going) in Alexandria. We’ve been friends since freshman year of college and he is one of my favorite people, so I was really excited to hang out with him. (He lives with another college friend, so bonus!) I also got to stop in Maryland on the way and see my friend/former roommate. I hadn’t met her two kids yet and one was brand new, so that was cool too. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see all my college friends in the area, but now I am motivated to go again soon, so we’ll hope I don’t get lazy on that one (and/or that weekends don’t completely fill up with mundane things).

SP had no interest in going into DC for the festivities as there were going to be people and he did not care for that. So, I headed out on my own. I intended to take a blue train in the city and start out at GW and walk as close as I could and stop. Unfortunately, every blue train was packed by that time (I left at 9:30 I think), so I finally gave up and hopped on a yellow. I was intending to meet up with a law school friend and his wife, but hadn’t yet determined where they were.

Got off the train in Chinatown and determined they were at the Washington Monument This is a bit of a walk. This is even more of a walk on a day when there are road blocks until you get to 18th street. I essentially walked a large backwards J because of the roadblocks. I actually didn’t mind the walk because a. it kept me warm and b. I got to see all the crazy crowds. I took a lot of photos while walking.

I finally got to the monument, but couldn’t find my friend. I’m guessing he was within 30-50 feet of me, but it was packed and I’m only 5’5”, so it wasn’t happening. But, I made it there with half an hour to spare and could hear fine and could see one of the screens if I stood on my toes and craned my neck, so I decided to stay put. I figured at least I was looking at the Capitol, even if it was a mile away, so I was good.

The amazing thing to me was that people were happy and nice. No one pushed, no one complained. And everyone shut up completely when Obama took his oath and gave his speech. Almost 2 million people, silent. (And 90% of those people all booing in unison when Dick Cheney came out. That was loud.) The only rude person I ran into was on the metro on the way home – he decided he wanted more space so he kept sticking out his elbow so others couldn’t get on the train. I backed into his elbow and got on anyway. Screw that. I rode the B line T in Boston for 4 years, a little elbow isn’t going to keep me off the train.

I missed a little of the speech to a weird echo in the speakers, but that’s why Flarf taped 4 hours of coverage on CNN for me (thanks Flarf!), but it was really cool to be in the crowd. I am so happy that I went.

And can I say how happy I am that it didn’t rain? It was cold, but the sun was shining and I had a hat, so I was pleased. (If you’ll recall, in 2001, it rained for most of the day. Mother Nature did not care for W, I think.)

The place cleared out pretty fast during the poet (yeah, I can’t remember her name now). My friends ended up being pushed north, so we ended up meeting up for lunch in Dupont Circle (I walked a lot that day) at a restaurant near my old senior year apartment building, so I enjoyed the nostalgia. And while waiting for the phones to work to figure out where they were, I went to see the WWII memorial because I moved away before it was built and had never seen it.

A cool trip. Very glad that I went.