The inauguration

The plan was to meet friends at ten 'around the carousel,' which in hindsight, was insanity.

I took the metro in, followed the river of people (I really didn't have a choice where I was moving), and was deposited near the Washington Memorial.

There was camaraderie among the people I was mashed up against. We cheered at the sliver of jumbotron we could see, and laughed loudly when the announcer told us we could be seated.

After the oath, the poet laureate was the end credits, and the river shifted. I couldn't get within a half-mile of the L'Enfant Plaza station (I heard later on NPR it was a 2+ hour wait), so I walked around the elipse and saw the floats and the bands setting up.

I thought it might be best to walk home... got across the bridge (my favorite part of the day), and Becky emailed me saying it would take 5 hours the way I was headed (I was taking the road we drive to church)... My sister saved the day and told me how to get to another metro station in Virginia. Found it; no wait for a train at all. Got home before the family and curled up on the couch under a blanket!

Election Night

My boss recommended I take a certification program in Chicago, and it happened to be for the first week in November. So, before I left town, I signed up through Obama's website for free tickets to the election night rally in Grant Park. I heard it was a long shot--something like a million requests for 50k tickets, but I was lucky enough to get a free ticket plus one for a guest.

I didn't know anyone in town to go with, so I gave away my ticket on Craigslist (some people were selling them for $500+). My Craigslist buddy (Shana, a schoolteacher from Lakeview) had to enter at the same time as me, so we met up in front of a bar nearby to walk to the park. We got lost, so we walked for an hour...

Once we arrived, we waited in lines to get through the multiple security checks (this took another hour.) Despite the wait, the crowd was enthusiastic.

Inside, the crowd was packed tight. The photo below shows the ticket-holder area--we were halfway to the stage on the right. We stood there for three hours watching CNN's coverage as the polls closed, an experience that was very much like watching TV while standing for three hours surrounded by 100k people. It was very exciting (big cheers at every state announced) but very tiring.

The photo below shows the people without tickets--they were mashed against the fences. I read the final estimate was 200k people total at the rally.
After it became clear that a winner had been decided (but before Obama spoke), we headed out. I'm just not used to being on my feet that long, I guess. Leaving our spot in the crowd took 20 minutes...

I was a disappointed that I couldn't make it the whole night, but I needed a break. I took the L back to my hotel. People on the street were cheering and honking horns. I got back to my room just in time to watch Obama's speech from my bed :-)

Political Involvement

Sawyer has not yet given his endorsement to a presidential candidate. However, I went to an Obama rally in Virginia yesterday and dragged Sawyer along because I thought he might enjoy seeing the crowds.

I picked him up from daycare (mid-nap!) at 1:30 and got to the venue at 2 for an event that was scheduled to start at 6. (There were predictions that 50k people might show up, and I wanted to make sure we could sit in the shade.) Because we arrived early, we were lucky to get box seating, which gave us plenty of room to move around.

It was a long and hot day, but Sawyer had a fun time clapping and cheering for the different speakers and musicians. He did a good job sitting and listening, but by the end, he ran out of steam. I had promised him we would leave if he got too tired or hot, so we stayed for about 15 minutes of Obama's speech and headed for the car.

Because we left early, we didn't have any problems with traffic. Still, Sawyer fell asleep before we left the parking lot.