Here we Are!!

I need to write this down; not so much for others to read but for myself. Those of you that know me, know that my memory is always just a minute away from disappearing from my brain.

Monday - 4:30 am: We woke up (after going to bed at 1:30) to get ourselves loaded and out the door by 5:15 am. Already packed beforehand, so all we needed to do was dress and load the car. Kiss the kids goodbye (and the dogs) and head out.

Arrive at the airport, leave the car and schlep our bags to the counter. We were about an hour early so did the necessary things before we boarded. There was almost no one on our plane to Denver so we could stretch out a bit. We also napped since we were exhausted.

The second leg of our journey took us from Denver to Indianapolis then to Baltimore. The flight was completely full. Stuffed. Crying babies, screaming kids, smelly adults, bouncy plane. The perfect combination for a four hour flight. I read and slept most of the flight.

Arrived in Baltimore with directions from Ben on how to get from the airport to the hotel. Buses, shuttles, trains; we did them all. Met Ben at the hotel and finally ate and then dropped into bed, knowing that we were going to have to get up really early the next morning for the Inauguration.

Tuesday - 4:30 am: Early rise for the Great Day. We knew the crowds were going to be crazy on the trains so we had bought our tickets the night before so we didn't have to worry about that as well. The lines were crazy and there were people everywhere and everyone was wondering where to go and how to get there.

We took the train into DC, with our Blue Tickets safely in my pocket. These were precious tickets; they would get us into the Blue Area which would get us close to the man we were hoping to see - President Obama.

We were the first people on the train since we were the first stop. We had great seats and thought "Hey. This won't be so bad." Spoke too soon. Our train broke down halfway there and we had to get off and wait for another train. The problem is that every train after that was completely full and there was NO room for us. We finally found a little room on one train and squished ourselves onto the car. Standing room only. There was no need to hold onto a rail or seat; there was no way I was falling as tight as the people were packed on the train. It's a good thing I don't suffer from claustrophobia!

We got off the train into the freezing air of DC and started the trek over to the Capitol. Here we were in one of the most historical places in America. It was such a great feeling.

We followed the crowds and Ben's directions. However, we got a little turned around and there were so many streets that were closed due to the day, that we found that we had to walk clear around the Capitol to finally find our Blue Gate entrance. We were so worried that we would be late because they were going to close the gates once President Obama spoke. We were walking as fast as possible and then we finally found the signs to guide us to our gate. Finally!

As we came upon our gate, the bad news began to show. No one was going in very fast. The crowd was HUGE; thousands of people waiting to get in the Blue Gate. I have pics of the crowd and will post them later. We waited for 45 minutes and didn't move anywhere. We found out later that a generator that was powering the metal detectors had broken down and they were left with two detectors which let only one person through at a time.

The crowd was getting quite frustrated and several times started chanting "Let us in! Let us in!" but the guards ignored us. Finally we heard the 21 gun salute and they shut the gates, keeping all us Blue Tickets holders out and leaving a huge open grassy spot with no people in it because we were standing in the freezing weather hoping to hear our new President.

So we started walking around and found a spot outside of our area where we were in sight of the Capitol Building and could hear President Obama speaking. And when we heard him speak and saw the Capitol, we were no longer disappointed. We were in this place and we were still part of the moment and that's what was important. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish - it didn't matter. We were all standing shoulder to shoulder, listening to this man speaking. And we were all smiling at each other and helping each other take pictures of ourselves in front of the Capitol. It was great.

Afterward, we had to find a way out of the city. That's when things got crazy. Everyone ELSE wanted to get out of the city too (or go see the parade) because it was FREEZING cold and we were exhausted. The train stations were completely full; in fact the security (in their infinite wisdom) decided to close all but one station which bogged down the entire train system. So we decided to hang out in a small shopping center and come up with another plan. We were like refugees, all the people, trying to find a place to stay warm until the stations opened up, which wouldn't be until 6:30 pm. It was 2 pm when we found this out. There was no possible way we were waiting until then to find a train.

So Ben came up with a plan to catch a train at a station about 6 blocks away and hopefully, would be open and find a train we could take back into Virginia (where we were staying). Thanks to Ben, it worked and we were able to get out of the city, back to our hotel and get something to eat since we only had a hot dog at 1 pm. We were exhausted, our legs were sooooo tired from walking miles (it seemed) and I was at that moment, so glad I didn't bring the kids because they would have been miserable.

to be continued.................