The Inauguration was AWESOME
A long time ago I got really smacked down hard for daring to post about politics here of the OFF, but I figure, HEY, If yall can post BIBLE VERSES here every day, I can make a political post and if you don't like it, don't read it......
We flew into Philly a few days early. Nice bright weather but 17 degrees! COLD!! We took the subway and walked all over the city, sightseeing, testing our clothing and boots against the cold, trying to prepare for Tues. the 20th which was predicted to also be a cold, long walk to get into the event on the Capitol Mall.
Took the train from Philly to DC on Sat. the 17th, same day, same track as Barack and Biden were also riding from Philly to DC, stopping in several cities for public events. From the moment we landed in Philly until we got home.... everyone was so so so NICE! Seems everyone was on the same pilgrimage and everyone was so happy to be there, talking to strangers, so joyful to be able to take part in the event. The train was packed and the conductor kept announcing where our train was in relation to Barack's and people just cheered when we actually passed a few feet from that dark blue railcar holding the next Prez....
On Monday, we had to go to downtown DC to pick up our tickets at our Congressman's office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Caught the Metro in the burbs, kind of a test run for the next day. Met great people on the Metro, all doing the same as us.... exchanged photos, emails, cell numbers for exchanging photos later... waited in a fairly long line to get in. Was prepared for "no bathrooms, no food" as predicted on the TV machine... instead, walked into a "reception" with food at my congressman's office. They kinda know us from buying our products at the farmers market at home, and I had brought them a little goat cheese gift of course... he and staff took us outside his office back door to a kind of terrace and took our pics with him with the Capitol Dome in the background looming large over our shoulders...
Then we went exploring on the mall. Went to NA Indian Museum, such good food.... a Zagat rated cafeteria if you can believe it. Sitting there at a long table with 20 other people, all asking, "Where are you from? Do you have tickets?" Again, taking pics, exchanging emails, text messages, twitters... Next, Air and Space Museum and the Botanical Gardens.... still very cold that day but the day was manageable all and all.... Subway home and beautiful dinner with our cuzzins in the burbs.
Inaug day.... dropped off at the Subway station at 6 am. Just missed a two hour line of cars on the freeway just trying to get in to park. Our cuz knew the back way in and we missed that jam up. LONG line in the dark and cold just to get on the train, still everyone FRIENDLY and joyous, then finally got on the train. First major hurdle. RUTROH... text message saying our subway stop is closed due to overcrowding, we must get off down the line.... much further away from our gate and on exactly the OPPOSITE side of the mall.
Got off and began to walk. Our map and David's cellphone GPS told us that to get to our yellow gate, we had to go under the Mall, thru the 3rd street tunnel. To people following this in the news, you might have heard this referred to as "The Purple Tunnel of Doom". Purple ticket holders line became an eight tentacled hydra with the largest line going down and thru the tunnel. We had yellow tickets so we just trekked on thru but there were 1,000's of folks just trapped there who never moved... and TG we weren't 1/2 hour later or we wouldn't have made it thru. ANd really TG there was no one intent on mischief or evil as that was, looking back, very dangerous for those in the tunnel and it was UNDER almost a million other people on the mall above....
Once out, we were still not anywhere close to our yellow gate, but the GPS got us thru a couple of other very crowded areas and around the "purple people"... squashed as they were in among tall buildings and in spaces so crowded that it also could have been lethal. Lots of these people were just coming to terms with the fact that having been in the same line for hours and not moving an inch, were NOT going to get in... and in spite of this... no jerks, no azzholes... everyone NICE inspite of travelling, like us, 1000's of miles to get there....
Finally found the yellow line. When asking, "What color is this?" 40 to 100 people would shout "YELLOW"... it was the Yellow Brick Road.... the Golden Highway, and we joked we had the "Golden Tickets"... we were not in crowded city intersections... we were on an open tree covered slope of broad boulevards and we were the chosen yellow ticket holders, so much luckier than the "purple people". We were a band of survivors and as the line finally began to move, we kept track of each other in line, nudging each other ahead, making sure family members didn't get separated. Everyone SO NICE!! Cold and NICE! Hey, we finally made it thru the gate, scanned, inspected, ejected into the area in front of the Capitol, still trekking along in the cold... ONE portapotty for our area of 1,000's... made it to our seats and just Could NOT Believe how incredibly close we were. We could see it all with naked eyes. A mere 50 rows back from the very front. Could see it better with camera zoom or binocs. And a jumbotron just to the side for good measure. I was literally ten chairs away from Mayor Bloomberg and his party. In the same section as Mary K Blige, David sat a few seats down from me and he was in front of Maria Shrivers brother Robert. We were amazingly close. AMAZINGLY close!
The event started almost immediately. All the players entering from the Capitol. Music. Aretha. Yoyo and Itzak. Prayers. The oath and John Roberts completely screwing it up and everyone KNEW IT!! As the oath ended and the 21 gun cannon salute went off literally 50 ft behind us, the place erupted into cheers and I was crying, sobbing, so happy....
Then Barack... you know Capitol Hill is actually a hill, and we could look behind us and see people, 2 M people all the way back to the Washington Monument and as we looked back, they were FLUTTERING! OMG, they all had flags and looked like a field of red buttterflies. With 2 M people in this closed space, in clear cold weather where all sound carries for an incredible distance... well, when Barack spoke... there was silence... absolute silence, except for the echo of his words drifting up to the front from the speakers and jumbotrons lined up down the mall behind us...
As the speech ended up, people turned to neighbors, strangers and hugged, like in Catholic church service when you greet and shake hands with pewmates... We decided to hoof it quickly to the closest subway station since I was getting text msgs about various ones closing and a cold front had just moved in with snow predicted... as we were leaving, Marine One helicopter carrying Bush away from the Capitol passed directly overhead and EVERYONE was cheering, screaming at him, shaking fists, OMG upraised middle fingers... I didn't want to be disrespectful but felt cheers erupting from my chest along with those of 2 M others cheering with me. I ended up sort of waving, open handed while making loud noises, really trying not to be negative but unable to contain my joy at that moment.
I was so impressed with how well it went... and how badly it went in some respects in terms of crowd management... and how well it went in spite of that. Did I mention that everyone was so NICE?? I live in an area which is pretty white. I've lived around black people many times in my life but like most other white people, at the end of the day, most of the people I'm around are white.... on the train, on the subway, on the streets of DC, heck even on the plane getting there... it was so great to see so many happy, glowing, well dressed, hangin with family, proud, friendly, smiling BLACK people. So privileged to get to share that amazing day with them. So wonderful to see this day become reality. It was the most awesome experience of my life.
Anyone wanting to see some of David's AMAZING pics, some of which appeared on the front page of our local paper... you can email me....
Thanks for listening, sorry it took a month to write about it....
We flew into Philly a few days early. Nice bright weather but 17 degrees! COLD!! We took the subway and walked all over the city, sightseeing, testing our clothing and boots against the cold, trying to prepare for Tues. the 20th which was predicted to also be a cold, long walk to get into the event on the Capitol Mall.
Took the train from Philly to DC on Sat. the 17th, same day, same track as Barack and Biden were also riding from Philly to DC, stopping in several cities for public events. From the moment we landed in Philly until we got home.... everyone was so so so NICE! Seems everyone was on the same pilgrimage and everyone was so happy to be there, talking to strangers, so joyful to be able to take part in the event. The train was packed and the conductor kept announcing where our train was in relation to Barack's and people just cheered when we actually passed a few feet from that dark blue railcar holding the next Prez....
On Monday, we had to go to downtown DC to pick up our tickets at our Congressman's office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Caught the Metro in the burbs, kind of a test run for the next day. Met great people on the Metro, all doing the same as us.... exchanged photos, emails, cell numbers for exchanging photos later... waited in a fairly long line to get in. Was prepared for "no bathrooms, no food" as predicted on the TV machine... instead, walked into a "reception" with food at my congressman's office. They kinda know us from buying our products at the farmers market at home, and I had brought them a little goat cheese gift of course... he and staff took us outside his office back door to a kind of terrace and took our pics with him with the Capitol Dome in the background looming large over our shoulders...
Then we went exploring on the mall. Went to NA Indian Museum, such good food.... a Zagat rated cafeteria if you can believe it. Sitting there at a long table with 20 other people, all asking, "Where are you from? Do you have tickets?" Again, taking pics, exchanging emails, text messages, twitters... Next, Air and Space Museum and the Botanical Gardens.... still very cold that day but the day was manageable all and all.... Subway home and beautiful dinner with our cuzzins in the burbs.
Inaug day.... dropped off at the Subway station at 6 am. Just missed a two hour line of cars on the freeway just trying to get in to park. Our cuz knew the back way in and we missed that jam up. LONG line in the dark and cold just to get on the train, still everyone FRIENDLY and joyous, then finally got on the train. First major hurdle. RUTROH... text message saying our subway stop is closed due to overcrowding, we must get off down the line.... much further away from our gate and on exactly the OPPOSITE side of the mall.
Got off and began to walk. Our map and David's cellphone GPS told us that to get to our yellow gate, we had to go under the Mall, thru the 3rd street tunnel. To people following this in the news, you might have heard this referred to as "The Purple Tunnel of Doom". Purple ticket holders line became an eight tentacled hydra with the largest line going down and thru the tunnel. We had yellow tickets so we just trekked on thru but there were 1,000's of folks just trapped there who never moved... and TG we weren't 1/2 hour later or we wouldn't have made it thru. ANd really TG there was no one intent on mischief or evil as that was, looking back, very dangerous for those in the tunnel and it was UNDER almost a million other people on the mall above....
Once out, we were still not anywhere close to our yellow gate, but the GPS got us thru a couple of other very crowded areas and around the "purple people"... squashed as they were in among tall buildings and in spaces so crowded that it also could have been lethal. Lots of these people were just coming to terms with the fact that having been in the same line for hours and not moving an inch, were NOT going to get in... and in spite of this... no jerks, no azzholes... everyone NICE inspite of travelling, like us, 1000's of miles to get there....
Finally found the yellow line. When asking, "What color is this?" 40 to 100 people would shout "YELLOW"... it was the Yellow Brick Road.... the Golden Highway, and we joked we had the "Golden Tickets"... we were not in crowded city intersections... we were on an open tree covered slope of broad boulevards and we were the chosen yellow ticket holders, so much luckier than the "purple people". We were a band of survivors and as the line finally began to move, we kept track of each other in line, nudging each other ahead, making sure family members didn't get separated. Everyone SO NICE!! Cold and NICE! Hey, we finally made it thru the gate, scanned, inspected, ejected into the area in front of the Capitol, still trekking along in the cold... ONE portapotty for our area of 1,000's... made it to our seats and just Could NOT Believe how incredibly close we were. We could see it all with naked eyes. A mere 50 rows back from the very front. Could see it better with camera zoom or binocs. And a jumbotron just to the side for good measure. I was literally ten chairs away from Mayor Bloomberg and his party. In the same section as Mary K Blige, David sat a few seats down from me and he was in front of Maria Shrivers brother Robert. We were amazingly close. AMAZINGLY close!
The event started almost immediately. All the players entering from the Capitol. Music. Aretha. Yoyo and Itzak. Prayers. The oath and John Roberts completely screwing it up and everyone KNEW IT!! As the oath ended and the 21 gun cannon salute went off literally 50 ft behind us, the place erupted into cheers and I was crying, sobbing, so happy....
Then Barack... you know Capitol Hill is actually a hill, and we could look behind us and see people, 2 M people all the way back to the Washington Monument and as we looked back, they were FLUTTERING! OMG, they all had flags and looked like a field of red buttterflies. With 2 M people in this closed space, in clear cold weather where all sound carries for an incredible distance... well, when Barack spoke... there was silence... absolute silence, except for the echo of his words drifting up to the front from the speakers and jumbotrons lined up down the mall behind us...
As the speech ended up, people turned to neighbors, strangers and hugged, like in Catholic church service when you greet and shake hands with pewmates... We decided to hoof it quickly to the closest subway station since I was getting text msgs about various ones closing and a cold front had just moved in with snow predicted... as we were leaving, Marine One helicopter carrying Bush away from the Capitol passed directly overhead and EVERYONE was cheering, screaming at him, shaking fists, OMG upraised middle fingers... I didn't want to be disrespectful but felt cheers erupting from my chest along with those of 2 M others cheering with me. I ended up sort of waving, open handed while making loud noises, really trying not to be negative but unable to contain my joy at that moment.
I was so impressed with how well it went... and how badly it went in some respects in terms of crowd management... and how well it went in spite of that. Did I mention that everyone was so NICE?? I live in an area which is pretty white. I've lived around black people many times in my life but like most other white people, at the end of the day, most of the people I'm around are white.... on the train, on the subway, on the streets of DC, heck even on the plane getting there... it was so great to see so many happy, glowing, well dressed, hangin with family, proud, friendly, smiling BLACK people. So privileged to get to share that amazing day with them. So wonderful to see this day become reality. It was the most awesome experience of my life.
Anyone wanting to see some of David's AMAZING pics, some of which appeared on the front page of our local paper... you can email me....
Thanks for listening, sorry it took a month to write about it....
Best wishes,
Nancy
Am a DC native and You have a historic and cherished event recordered in your mind forever. We watched on TV warmer that way. Lets hope that the new president leads us out of this mess -
Have walked those areas a zillion times
This is not that political. No matter how much we weigh we're all in it.
Hold on to that one
Have walked those areas a zillion times
This is not that political. No matter how much we weigh we're all in it.
Hold on to that one
what a nice post this is
glad you had an awesome time at the inauguration. watching history made must have been wonderful
and i much rather read about politics than religion any day. there is way tooo much religion for my taste on all the boards here at OH.
of course, there is lots of other drama too, but the religion gets to me. i guess im just an agnostic at heart
be safe and well, jacki
glad you had an awesome time at the inauguration. watching history made must have been wonderful
and i much rather read about politics than religion any day. there is way tooo much religion for my taste on all the boards here at OH.
of course, there is lots of other drama too, but the religion gets to me. i guess im just an agnostic at heart
be safe and well, jacki
crowd of two MILLION people!!!! You brought the experience to life for me.
Annette 
Underlying the joy of the day was my own personal joy of being in a physical condition that allowed me to undertake the challenge of simply GETTING to it... flying in a seat I fit in, carrying luggage, walking walking walking then sitting in a little folding chair in a tight space watching the event. THAT'S how close we were... we actually had CHAIRS!
As we were leaving, trying to get to the Metro station and on a train before 2M other people had the same idea and we ended up stuck in DC for the night... I actually had to climb up and over cement barracades... couldn't have done THAT at 311 lbs!
Watching it on CNN was definitely warmer! I heard a great comment by a writer who said that even for those of us stuck in the back of that crowd... it wasn't so much about SEEING it... it was about letting the world see us.... 2 M... braving the crowds and the cold... braving the Purple Tunnel of Doom... just to be there for Barack.
Your Welcome. Thank YOU.
As we were leaving, trying to get to the Metro station and on a train before 2M other people had the same idea and we ended up stuck in DC for the night... I actually had to climb up and over cement barracades... couldn't have done THAT at 311 lbs!
Watching it on CNN was definitely warmer! I heard a great comment by a writer who said that even for those of us stuck in the back of that crowd... it wasn't so much about SEEING it... it was about letting the world see us.... 2 M... braving the crowds and the cold... braving the Purple Tunnel of Doom... just to be there for Barack.
Your Welcome. Thank YOU.
Best wishes,
Nancy
Hey, take a look at the following URL to see a really interesting Gigapan! The URL is: http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=15374
Or go to gigipan.org and type in Obama Inauguration in the search bar...
If you take a little bit of time with this picture, you can find us in the crowd....
First find the white railing at the far right foreground of the panorama.... next find the row of sailors in dark blue coats with white hats... they are standing in the aisle just to the left of the white railing in the foreground.
Next, locate the low white wall which is perpendicular to the row of sailors, in the front of the row of sailors...
Next locate two "breaks" in the mass of people which indicate small aisles in the seats, running the same direction, left to right, as the low white wall.... focus on the second aisle, the one towards the back of the photo...
Just to the left of the sailors, just behind the second aisle, you will see a small white blob. Use the little hand to drag that white blob to the center of your screen and begin to zoom in, using the little scale in the upper left corner... as you zoom in, you will see that the white blob is actually a white blanket covering the laps of three people...
Keep zooming in until you can see the plastic fence running along that aisle.... at one point the plastic fence is kind of rolled up and attached to a metal post... now find the two girls in front of that rolled fence, one with turquoise hat, one with pink hat. In front of them is a man with binocs... I am sitting next to him, dark glasses, green coat, turban style hat....
David is about ten people to my left, in a brown hoody sweatshirt, looking down, trying to adjust his camera settings...., he is half obscured by the man in front of him but you can just make out his beard.....
WE WERE THERE!!!!! It was AMAZING!!!!!
If you take some more time zooming in, you can identify many people in the stands behind Obama, including Supremes, Aretha, Clintons, Gores, Bushes and many many more... it's kinda fun!
Or go to gigipan.org and type in Obama Inauguration in the search bar...
If you take a little bit of time with this picture, you can find us in the crowd....
First find the white railing at the far right foreground of the panorama.... next find the row of sailors in dark blue coats with white hats... they are standing in the aisle just to the left of the white railing in the foreground.
Next, locate the low white wall which is perpendicular to the row of sailors, in the front of the row of sailors...
Next locate two "breaks" in the mass of people which indicate small aisles in the seats, running the same direction, left to right, as the low white wall.... focus on the second aisle, the one towards the back of the photo...
Just to the left of the sailors, just behind the second aisle, you will see a small white blob. Use the little hand to drag that white blob to the center of your screen and begin to zoom in, using the little scale in the upper left corner... as you zoom in, you will see that the white blob is actually a white blanket covering the laps of three people...
Keep zooming in until you can see the plastic fence running along that aisle.... at one point the plastic fence is kind of rolled up and attached to a metal post... now find the two girls in front of that rolled fence, one with turquoise hat, one with pink hat. In front of them is a man with binocs... I am sitting next to him, dark glasses, green coat, turban style hat....
David is about ten people to my left, in a brown hoody sweatshirt, looking down, trying to adjust his camera settings...., he is half obscured by the man in front of him but you can just make out his beard.....
WE WERE THERE!!!!! It was AMAZING!!!!!
If you take some more time zooming in, you can identify many people in the stands behind Obama, including Supremes, Aretha, Clintons, Gores, Bushes and many many more... it's kinda fun!
Best wishes,
Nancy
I am envious indeed.... I would have truly loved to have been there to witness it in person. I was at work, and everything came to a halt so we could watch him take the oath of office on a little 12" tv the boss had brought in. I had it recorded on DVD at home, and of course it was replayed all over the tube... and I watched it again and again.
I am one of those silly white folks who voted for him and wept with joy when the stations announced he had won.... I can't help but let this special kind of hope into my heart...
Thanks for posting... it was a very historic day.
I am one of those silly white folks who voted for him and wept with joy when the stations announced he had won.... I can't help but let this special kind of hope into my heart...
Thanks for posting... it was a very historic day.
What an awsome experience to witness history in the making. I am Canadaian and have followed the election all along the way. I felt that Barack Obama was a person who could relate to all people.
NOT...that Canadians get to vote, but they did a poll before the election and almost 90% wanted him to be President. Those of us that live in North America, can feel privaledged that we will watch the man in action for the next 4 years. he has a hard row to hoe,,, lot's of left over baggage from G Bush,
who should have brought the country out of recession long before he was finished.
Oh well, I just want you to know that in this economy we are with you, and hope the new stimulus package gets America back on it's feet. You folks are so lucky to have your new President, and I wish you well in the future. Lola
NOT...that Canadians get to vote, but they did a poll before the election and almost 90% wanted him to be President. Those of us that live in North America, can feel privaledged that we will watch the man in action for the next 4 years. he has a hard row to hoe,,, lot's of left over baggage from G Bush,
who should have brought the country out of recession long before he was finished.
Oh well, I just want you to know that in this economy we are with you, and hope the new stimulus package gets America back on it's feet. You folks are so lucky to have your new President, and I wish you well in the future. Lola
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