Inauguration Day

The view from our spot

Friends from Hawaii had an extra ticket to the President's Inauguration, so I made plans to brave the crowds and weather. While in a colleague's office, my friend called and said he had two more tickets to offer. My wife was still out in Oregon, so I asked my co-worker if he would like to go, and his wife as well. The offer was accepted and turned into a breakfast invitation at a row house in the NOMA-Gaulladet area of D.C. north of New York Avenue just off of Capitol Street. I parked at Landover Metro Station as I usually do, but was surprised at how few cars were there before me at 7:30 AM. I rendezvoused with my friend and we made the walk to his house and breakfast. By the time the three of us ate, packed up their baby, and walked to the street entrance for where we should

A common spectator pose

go through TSA security, the crowd was huge and we wondered after waiting for 40 minutes and not seeing the queue ahead of us move whether we would ever get to the reserved area west of the Capitol where we were to watch the festivities. Eventually the pack of folks ahead of us made it through the processing area, and we were let in to be processed. We finally got into the general viewing area that our tickets allowed, just in time to see the Vice President take his oath, soon followed by the President. We stood among a lot of people, but past knowledge told us that were were much closer than most who stood out in the cold that day. As the proceedings were broadcast on the giant Jumbotrons, many photographs were snapped at the same time. Rather than glow sticks held high during the playing of an anthem at a rock concert, the images of hands held high hoisting digital cameras above the sea of heads was the image that was fixed in my mind's eye.