Wow. 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!

TO PAGE 2 of "The 56th US Presidential Inauguration"! ----->

Tags: photography - travel - Washington DC

Curiosity meant i couldn't resist seeing what the scene was like at today's concert at Lincoln Memorial ~ We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration. NPR had exclusive live broadcasting of the concert ~ and they have a great photo gallery (of things close up that i wasn't able to see in person!) ~ with a star studded line up and the national mall filled with jumbotrons ~ we wandered over towards the end and caught barack obama's speech from a nice spot near the washington monument ~ the real spectacle was the sheer number of people as we looked out from the massive obelisk down toward the teeny tiny lincoln memorial (live view 10x helped me see what was actually going on down there through the 5D!). It was pretty incredible how tens of thousands of people became dead quiet as he spoke. Silly as it sounds, just being a part of the masses was a fascinating experience ~ even the national park rangers were giddy about how many people were there! So here are some pics from our perspective to give you a feel of the (incredibly civilized!) crowds ~ and some fun tech amusements ~ from the awesome star wars feeling "ICx Tactical Platforms" police cherry-picker like high tech viewing towers, to the masses climbing on the jumbotron generators, to the people in trees... it was a pretty insane number of bodies out there! I can't even image what Tuesday is going to be like...

TO PAGE 2 of "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration"! ----->

Tags: travel - Washington DC

"It's Real Change" ~ really! At the "real change exchange" - aka the US Mint! This truck cracked me up when we were wandering around the national mall today... wasn't sure what to call this post ~ but basically on the next page you can see a range of pictures from our adventures in the cold on foot today ~ some fun ones of the Capitol with tons of chairs and jumbotrons set up out front ~ plastic bags frozen into a the reflecting pool ~ carousels ~ people freezing and jumping up and down behind Spike Lee and the MSNBC team that basically lit the WHOLE of the national mall with blinding lights ~ the washington monument and its circle of flags ~ and more!

UPDATE! Just found out that the "It's Real Change" Truck was part of - "United States Mint Introduces Native American $1 Coin to Open National Museum of the American Indian Multicultural Festival" ~ where you could switch 1$ bills for the new 1$ coin! Unfortunately when we wandered past they were parked and closed up!

TO PAGE 2 of "It's Real Change in DC"! ----->

Tags: travel - Washington DC