Inauguration

So, as every good American knows, President Obama was inaugurated for a second time on January 21. DC perk: I got to go! That was two weeks ago, and I'm just getting around to telling you. Sorry.

Ryan and I took the Metro downtown, which wasn't bad at all. We left somewhere between 7 and 8 am thinking we'd run into a crowd, but there were less people on the Metro than at the daily rush hours. We got off at Farragut North and started walking with no real direction. We figured if we followed the crowd, we'd eventually get to the Mall.

A large crowd was gathering in front of us and it looked like they were closing off a street. That's when we saw it - the Presidential motorcade! About 20 black cars with tinted windows that might as well have been painted black passed us with some intermittent police cars and motorcycles. Just like that, it was over and the crowd started moving again.

Since we didn't have tickets for any special section, we just kept walking, figuring that eventually someone would tell us to stop if we'd stepped outside of our boundaries. We were eventually funneled into an area closer to the Washington Monument than the Capitol, but I could have cared less.

Right in front of me was CNN's inauguration little pop-up facility that they were using to broadcast the inauguration, and there, right in the middle of a group of journalists facing the cameras, was that iconic white hair. I freaked out a little bit. (There's no use going to Ryan for confirmation on this. Of course he would exaggerate and say that I was full-out jumping up and down. Clearly, that would be false!)

We ended up watching the inauguration on one of the giant screens set up on the Mall, so no I can't say that I actually saw President Obama in person. I would say that I might as well have watched the inauguration at home warm and curled up under a blanket, but there is so much to be said for the people you are experiencing that moment with. Ryan and I both noticed a fellow in front of us, who because of his age and physical attributes must have been uncomfortable standing for that long (I was uncomfortable standing that long), but he was beaming from ear to ear. And the girls around us were chattering impatiently while waiting for Beyonce (the real reason anyone came to the event).

After the fanfare was over, it was getting cold, and I was tired, so we decided to grab some lunch and head back, skipping the parade. This is when my frustration really set in. Almost all of the streets had some portion of them closed, and we couldn't get to the Metro stations we wanted so we wouldn't have to transfer or wait in gargantuan lines. I can't imagine what it would have been like at President O's first inauguration. Apparently there were twice as many people at that one.

I may have gotten sassy with a few National Guardsmen when I could see where I wanted to go, but just couldn't get there. If I knew their names, I'd go back and apologize. Sorry guys. By the time we reached Farragut North, we'd probably walked enough to get us all the way home.

We finally got back and napped for the rest of the afternoon. Historical moments are exhausting.

After living in DC for over two years, I have:

Obama sightings: 0  motorcade sightings: 2  Anderson Cooper sightings: 1

I can live with those numbers. DC is pretty rad.

Here's to another four years of remembering how blessed we truly are. United we stand.