Tuesday was an unforgettable day. Among an estimated 1.6 million people, Ryan and I witnessed the Inauguration of Barack Obama. Moreover, we were part of a very fortunate group of people (240,000 total) who had tickets, placing us on the Capitol lawn for the event. And while the ceremony was momentous and unforgettable, so was the adventure of getting to the National Mall.
After spending the night at my office in downtown D.C., Ryan and I set off from 9th & G streets NW in an effort to make it to 1st & Independence SW. At 9:30 a.m. the security gates for those ticketed with Blue Tickets opened. We set out at 8:30 a.m.
Stepping out onto the street, we were astounded by the amount of people that had come into the city. Despite the media hype, there was no way to prepare for the millions of people that descended upon Washington, D.C. We were also a bit surprised at how difficult navigating the city on foot would be. I knew there would be many road closures, but I assumed that the roads would be closed to traffic, not pedestrians as well. At one point, we found ourselves in a very tight spot as we tried to cross a street that was jammed with hundreds of people vying for a position on the parade route. Once we hit hwy 395 (closed to traffic) we started to make progress.
The map below depicts our starting point, a bit of the back and forth downtown, and finally, the route to our destination. Click to enlarge.
As we emerged from the highway tunnel at 9:45 a.m., we heard the music being played at the Capitol and we thought we were home-free.
We were wrong.
Though we could see the gate for the Blue Ticket Holders, there were hundreds of people moving in one huge mass toward the security tents. There was nothing to do but join in and hope that the very slow shuffling would have us at the gates by the time President-Elect Obama took the oath to become President Barack Obama.
To be continued...
You slept at the office! Did you bring an air mattress and sleeping bags?
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