Come one, Come All: Inauguration Day!

30th Street Station, Philadelphia. Middle of the night. It is a beautiful and regal station. Our train was late so we sat down with Dunkin Donuts coffee and bagels and hung out and made friends. We met these college kids from Houston who were in some kind of photography class. They even took pictures of us waiting.Once on the train, we got back-to-back booths in the cafe car and toasted with a locally-brewed Philly beer, Yuengling, America's Oldest Brewery that we've never heard of (to the bartender's amusement). Joey and Em made friends with this delightful woman from Danville California, also heading to the inauguration (of course.)

Once out upon the streets of DC, we begin to realize JUST HOW COLD it is. And the subway had closed at 2 a.m so we realized we'd have to hail a taxi. A job which was much more difficult than it looks in movies, because they all ignored us or refused to go to the neighborhood where we needed to go. It was Joey's big moment when he finally got us a cab: SUCCESS.

We had the nicest driver of all time. He seemed to be of Caribbean origin and was playing "no woman, no cry" when we got in. We had a lovely conversation about music and the spirit and, although we were prepared to pay about $10 each, the whole ride was only $21. We were very happy with our luck despite Mercury being Retrograde.

Layering up at Abby's house. You just can't resist this priceless pic of Em. One cannot possibly be prepared enough for sixteen hours of freezing temps. But we tried.

Walking though the historic streets of Mount Pleasant neighborhood, 3:30 a.m. Meeting up with strangers for quick chats and well wishes.

Bundled! And I whined about bringing a blanket! Addie made me, and I kept saying, oh I'm not gonna want to carry around a blanket. HA! I needed this thing all day long and I could have used two or three MORE.

Walking to the subway station, through the icy streets of Washington DC, 3:30 a.m.

We took the Metro downtown at 4:00 a.m. and arrived at a wild gathering site. People were congregating for miles, it seemed, lining up all along the street in droves. Our friend Micilin told us on the phone that she was in front of the Starbuck's but it seemed impossible to get into the heart of that crowd. For awhile we followed the flow of foot traffic but eventually turned around and decided to make our way into the Starbuck's and thus the front of the "line" that ended up making no difference anyway.

Inside the insane Starbuck's on 7th. This girl was doing a pretty great job getting everyone's orders under control. Walking into that mess, you would never have thought it possible.

this video might capture it better (inside the Starbucks that we pushed our way into)

Feeling the crunch. Here we are, you can see the security gate in the background, and the crowd around us just condenses and condenses until the air is squeezed out of our very lungs. Have you ever seen shrink-wrap? Kinda like that. We got to know our neighbors very well, leaning our weary heads against them and trying to keep each other's spirits up.

Here is what it looks like from the other side. When you finally get through that gate, you pop through with the force of a tidal wave behind you. It reminds me of getting born. And it is 11:30 a.m. and the ceremony is about to begin and you look behind you at all those sweet faces who are not going to get in and have waited since last night and they can't turn around or move at all and they have to squat and pee right where they are and your heart just breaks.

Now here we are finally on the parade route. This is our lovely friend Micilin who came down from NYC and with whom we bonded wonderfully thoughout this nutso experience. We were able to make a nice little spot on a grassy knoll right across from the National Archives Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, which was, incidentally, right where Pres. Obama got out of the car and walked the parade route.

This was a common sight. Groups of military men and other uniformed dudes standing around chatting about their lives and where they're from. It was frustrating to me because I was so intimately aware of the insanity of that crowd outside the gates and how they could use a little authority helping them out. There was PLENTY of security inside the gates, but NONE outside.

Listening to the swearing-in over the loudspeakers. Addie goes wild with her pompoms when our new president is announced!

who would've thought? Miss Patriotic!

As the parade finally gets started (2 hours late in the freezing cold) the crowd grows as well as the excitement.

And here is the infamous moment. If you look very closely you can see Barack Obama getting out of his car and waving at the crowd. We have a few more pictures but they are even more blurry. The point is, we were there!

We met back up with Joey and Em after fighting some heavy crowds walking up the streets. Here we are back at the Metro station. This one's for you Pops.