*notcot in travel , 20:14

The 56th US Presidential Inauguration- 01.20.09

inaug1.jpgWow. Well, today was quite a day. We are now in the era of President Barack Obama ~ and we’re quite anxious to see what happens in this first 100 days… Currently curled up in a hotel room watching CNN, getting a peek at the many balls taking place throughout DC and the country tonight… and i’m exhausted! I can’t even imagine how the Obamas must feel! Beyond the info you can get just about anywhere ~ on the next page you can get a peek at what our experience here was like today ~ from the 4am vendors setting up shop ~ to the humvee outside the window by 7am ~ to the masses of people traversing the city streets to and from the ceremony ~ to an inflated spiderman! One thing that definitely stands out today ~ i do not think i’ve ever been in a crowd of so many people in my life ~ and there was something incredibly moving about the energy of it ~ everyone so excited and literally from everywhere! Seeing them all come together, being in the midst of the cold for hours, and having millions sing taunting good-byes to Bush and come together with hopeful screams for what the future holds… it was quite an unforgettable day.

… and we’re headed back to LA tomorrow ~ so back to regular random postings in no time!


GeoEye has the awesomest satellite image of the inauguration today ~ and we’re in there somewhere! one of those millions of people… you truly have to download the high res image to see how cool it is!
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Here’s where we were ~ one of those tiny dots down there ~ and there’s the white house!
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The scene closer to the capitol…
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So here’s how the day started ~ TONS of honking and sirens all night long like it has been all week ~ but when i peeked outside the window at 4am, i expected to see people stumbling home from parties and such… instead it was cops and taxis and vendors getting set up ~ already!
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There were a lot of crazy feathered boas in red white an blue at my intersetion… and more terrrrrrrible obama/inauguration schwag than i’d ever imagined possible… winners like “the last calendar you will ever buy! 2000 years!” ~ it ran from 1900-2100…
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By morning (around 7) i rolled over in bed and peeked out and saw the Humvee looking menacing… yet somehow taxis would STILL pull right up into it and try to go around… which never went well… there were hoards already making their way over…
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The walk over (we headed over around 8:30 ~ and are only staying around a few blocks from the white house) took us about an hour… and once we got barely into the National Mall, looked back and took this picture…
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Here’s a close up… it is a never ending sea of people… i’ve really never moved in a crowd of so many people in my life…
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For a random view ~ i got distracted by the birds in the little bit of bubbling fountain in the Constitution Garden’s Lake that was mostly frozen over…
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Worked our way back up the hill to Washington Monument (even short people can see the many jumbotrons from up there!)…
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On unexpected things… here’s a random shot of spiderman…
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While waiting for things to start up at 10 ~ some tried to sit down and spread out on blankets…
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It was quite an insane amount of people out there!!!
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… and here’s a peek of the view when Obama gave his speach!
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….. ok adventures/vacation in DC for the week are coming to an end, and i’ll be back in LA tomorrow night! Thanks for bearing with me on this historic little side trip from the usual… it was truly a mindblowing experience to be in a place with SO many people, with such a hopeful, invigorating energy all around. People from so many parts of the country… and the world… coming together with such excitement, was truly moving. As for what happens next, and how government and politics plays out in the next 100 days… and 4 years… remains to be seen.

Things i’m loving so far… how fast they swapped the new white house site in! A definite improvement! Can’t wait to see how they keep it all up…
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15 Notes

Whoa, I was virtually in the same place! Maybe you saw me, I had hot pink gloves on. :) Also I took a lot of similar photos, including the frozen lake. It was great to be in a spot where you can see the Capitol, White House, and Lincoln Memorial…(and Washington Monument of course) Shame all the souvenirs were so horrendously tacky!

----- Jess 22.01.09 14:07

Got it! Many thanks! I hope they don’t invalidate my citizenship for missing out on that one! hahaha!

----- reyna elena 22.01.09 06:47

Reyna ~ 56th inauguration, 44th president

----- Jean/NOTCOT 22.01.09 02:55

I’m still missing something. I’ve read it twice already. I’m confused hahaha! Why did you say 56th and not 44th? Just curious. I might have to read it again.

----- reyna elena 21.01.09 17:44

That’s funny that you mention drunk people stumbling around at 4AM, my friends actually went barhopping, and in their drunkeness decided to go straight to the mall at 4AM.

I was actually on the mall near the second jumbotron, since they closed off 7th at around 6.30. Even being so far away, the inauguration was so touching. Just to see how far we’ve come, progress you know?

----- Larry 21.01.09 16:11

…I know the white house looks directly onto the washington monument…but there is a long street at an angle that goes directly from the capital to the whitehouse…it looks a tad iffy…and im sure there is no direct view of the capital from any white house windows, because the white house doesnt look high enough, but there is a direct street from the the capital to the whitehouse…

----- hrhkat 21.01.09 14:10

Wow. That would have been so cool to be there in person. That’s a lot of people.

----- ben 21.01.09 08:48

That is pretty cool. Literally! As great a moment it may have been I’d probably never withstand the cold. And I live in MI… Here’s to hoping Obama is going to make a change for good.

----- Juice 21.01.09 08:31

my friends and i walked from georgetown university to the mall at around 2:30 AM and got there at around 3:30. by 11:30 AM, we had gone completely numb, but seeing obama speak and being surrounded by so many people believing in the same thing was the most unforgettable experience. hope you enjoyed dc despite the insane crowds!

----- Becky 21.01.09 08:04

It was great, wasn’t it? The vibe from the crowd was wonderful! I was standing about 50 feet from you! Hope you had a good trip back and thanks for posting the pics.

----- Lee Gainer 21.01.09 07:02

I’m so glad you guys are enjoying the pics!

White house doesn’t look down to the capital ~ it takes a right angle at the washington monument (see the full pic) ~ passed on parties ~ so pooped, seemed to make more sense to relax and enjoy a little hotel time instead!

----- Jean/NOTCOT 20.01.09 23:53

wow, that is crazy. I love how the white house can see way down the street to the capital.

Did you go to any parties? I couldnt imagine you would even want to considering all the walking you probably did.

----- hrhkat 20.01.09 22:23

Amazing. I have really enjoyed following you on twitter. Thank you for sharing your journey! Please keep it up. I like seeing things from your point of view. I loved the before the inauguration photos too.

----- HollyQuin 20.01.09 21:44

This was great! thank you!!
I need to be more adventurous. How many people will be able to say they were there? Well, apparently many I guess.

----- Sandra 20.01.09 21:25

Very cool coverage! Hope you enjoyed DC.

----- Katee 20.01.09 21:12


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