Cory and I wanted to make one last trip out to Pittsburgh to see my sister and brother-in-law before leaving, and as we were planning it out, Emily and I decided we wanted to go to the Inauguration. We knew it would be a huge pain the rear, but we couldn’t let such a historic moment pass us by without being a part of it. Late Friday night, mom decided she wanted to be part of the magic too, which worked out well because it was just Emily and I going and our husbands would have our cars, leaving us with no way to get to D.C. Trains were books solid, so there was no chance we could have used public transport.
Cory went home on Sunday afternoon because he had to work on Monday. Mom showed up in Pittsburgh that evening with bags full of hand warmers, trail mix, luna bars, matching hats, etc.– everything we would need for surviving the cold weather and long wait. Emily had arranged for us to stay at a friend’s place in downtown Arlington, but we didn’t know how far away we’d have to park our car, so we each packed 1 small bag with everything we’d need for the next couple of days to make our journey a little easier. This involved wearing some of the same clothes for 3 days straight. I felt so stinky when it was all over.
After driving through heavy snow to get to Arlington, we got lost at the tail end of our trip. On a side note, we had to turn the car around in the parking lot of the Freddie Mac building and it’s still standing! We eventually made it to the apartment and it was about 4 in the morning before we could lay our pretty heads down on a pillow and go to sleep.
On Monday, we headed down to the mall check out the scene. Because crowds at been projected at around 2 million for the inauguration, we didn’t even bother with public transportation, but the 3 1/2 mile walk only took about an hour. On our way we walked past the Marines memorial and through the Arlington cemetary, where we took a side trek to see JFK’s tomb. There were people crowded around it, but for the number of people there, it was eerily quiet and respectful.
After we had our fill of dead people, we crossed the Arlington Memorial Bridge and head toward the Lincoln Memorial. Security was tight and even though it was the day before the Inauguration, the place was packed. The scaffolding from Sunday night’s concert was still up around the Lincoln Memorial, so the only access to it was from the side and there was a line to go see it. We spent the rest of our time just checking out the area and buying some swag and hot dogs on Constitution Ave. before getting back to the apartment for a good night’s rest.
We woke up at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning and layered on the warm clothes. We had bought a reusable bag with a picture of Obama on it the day before, so we shoved all our stuff down into it and were out the door by 6. Walking to the mall was interesting because the city was dead except for other people bundled up in warm clothes walking in the same direction as us. Mom kept comparing us to the zombies in “Night of the Living Dead”. On our way there, we walked across the the Arlington Memorial Bridge again, but this time the three of us were interviewed by the NPR reporter Allison Aubry. A co-worker of mine said she heard us on Morning Edition, but it was live so the clip wasn’t archived.
After crossing the bridge, we walked over to the reflecting pool and noticed people sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, so we went up and joined them. In retrospect, we probably would have seen how far into the mall we could have gotten so we could have at least seen the Capitol building during Obama’s inauguration, but we thought being on the Lincoln Memorial was a symbolic place to spend the day, despite the Washington Memorial blocking our view. Plus, we got to sit. The mood on the steps was so jubilant and the loudspeakers were playing Sunday night’s concert, so everybody was singing and dancing. One guy in particular got in front of everybody and tried to lead us all and did goofy dances to entertain us.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t see a jumbotron from where we were sitting, so once the official festivities began, we moved to where we could see what was going on.
Watching Obama take the Oath of Office and Aretha sing was so emotional and joyous for everybody around us. Tears welled in my eyes several times. As soon as President Barack Obama’s speech was over, we got the heck out of dodge. We speedwalked back to our car, which we had already packed up that morning, and we drove away.
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