Tuesday, January 20, 2009

O- so close


About two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to score two free tickets to the presidential swearing-in ceremony. For a split second, I started rationalizing whether Elise's Minnesota bloodlines would keep her warm enough for six to eight hours in 20 degree temps. But, my better judgement kicked in, and frost bite is no joke, so, my mom and brother were the benefactors of my moment of parental clarity. We knew it was going to be mass hysteria, so we put a pretty solid game plan together. I dropped them off at the metro at about 5:30am, and their journey into DC was relatively smooth. However, once they got off the metro in the heart of the Capitol and started walking the three blocks to the ticketed area, it was a totally different story.

They managed to herd themselves to the security checkpoint, only to find that it was totally blocked off. Apparently, right before they got there, hundreds of people without tickets knocked down the barricades and started seeping into the ticketed area. The police put the barricades back up, but because things were unraveling, they decided not to let anyone else in. Finally, at 11:30, when the ceremony started, they opened the barricades again, but by this time, it was full of people without tickets. So, my brother and mom just tried to move up as close as they could, and as you can see by their pictures, they didn't get very far. My mom is just over five feet tall, so she saw nothing, but she's glad she went because she can always say she was a part of history.

1 comment:

Chrissy said...

what an awesome experience!