6:55AM My father and I are standing in line, waiting to get into the inauguration. We have tickets from our congressman. We arrived here at 6am and have been in line for about an hour. The line stretches about two miles around blocks and into a tunnel. There are thousands of people. I am posting from my iPhone.
We are keeping ourselves warm by doing the wave and talking to new friends. There are people from all over the country. The folks behind us are from Hawaii. We are chanting and cheering as thousands more people walk past us to join the line. Venders are walking up and down the streets selling everything from Obama hats, shirts, and posters to hand warmers. It is a chilly 20 degrees. Everyone is fired up, ready to go!
7:55AM Still in line at the same spot. The streets are filled with people. I heard one police officer talking into his radio about watching for a group trying to charge the gates. I hope that doesn’t happen. There are hundreds of thousands of people around me and everyone seems to be in good spirits.
8:55AM Still in line. The “line” is total chaos. It’s a huge mob of people. Security is tight and moving slow. Freezing! But excited!
9:25AM Made it through the gate and past security! We are now right in front of the Capital building about 200 yards from the podium. We will be able to see Obama with our own eyes. This is amazing!
2:25PM We are back at my friend’s apartment. The inauguration was awesome. I lost cell service around 10:00AM and wasn’t able to update since then. Great Day! And Rick Warren spoke for 4 minutes and 43 seconds, raising $4,197 for LGBT equality! Thanks Rick.
It is 10 am, and your long wait was due to the restricted access through security. Now that you are “in”, you may not be able to see behind you. But the crowd has filled in the Mall back to the Washington monument, and the area from there back to the Lincoln Memorial has been partially occupied. There must be enough body heat and excitement to keep everyone warm, even the people from Hawaii.
The Washington Monument is 1 1/3 miles from the podium. The Lincoln Memorial is another 0.8 miles beyond that.
did anyone in the crowd near you respond to warren in any way?
cheered as Jimmy Carter was announced, was silent when Bush I was announced, cheered loudly for Clinton, and booed VERY loudly when W was announced. I don’t know if you can hear it on TV. The boos were very loud and lasted a while. I have it on video and will post it on youtube. A few people booed when Warren was announced, some people clapped, but mostly people were just silent, as they were for Bush I.
the pic had promised to broadcast it on the mall screens today since they totally fukked up and cut him from the televised program yesterday. did they make good on that promise?
It’s being reported that he got only a smattering of applause as Di Fi introduced him.
Was the upswelling of joy and catcalls as Executive One flew over the mall, and its inhabitants flew out of our lives.