Sully and I made it home and glad to be official "political groupies". What a trip. Well worth all the waiting in line, watching the balls from the outside and cold weather.
Go Obama
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Third Sighting
Yes, warmer and sunny today. Must be at least 50 degrees. Time to take off the hat, gloves and scarf. On the metro by 10 AM- not too crowded. Seems like most the tourist type folks are gone - mostly commuters today.
We walked around the Jefferson Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. Here's where all the tourist are. A zillion high school students running up and down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Such energy. FDR exhibit is always wonderful to see and read.
Now headed to find a place to eat. Walking up 21st. and see a crowd. Ask folks what's going on and a nice guy- in a suit and tie (they all dress up here) tells us he works across the street in the federal building and he's a "political junkie" and there are rumors that Obama has a meeting in the State Department at 1:50 and they are waiting to catch a sighting. How do people find this stuff out?
Any way this fellow tells us that the "other guy" never came to the state department - not that he minded. A few other comments and bingo we find another Obama supporter. The police have 21st street blocked off. Always a clue, something is happening. Now comes a bus and a cop and dog are inspecting this empty bus. Our "informer" tells us it's probably the bus that will carry the press. Imagine going to a meeting with a press bus.
We wait a few more minutes and this same guy tells us he and his wife drove down to the concert and he expected to park in his building (must be somebody- if you get a parking space in your building) - with all the streets closed off he couldn't come close- so his wife jumps out and goes to the concert and he drives home. Smart wife don't you think?
Now we see some motorcycle cobs leaving the state building. Crowd is building and more excitement. We are experienced (since we already have seen Obama's troupe twice) and know that the sirens and cops mean he is on the way. More people come by and walk across the street to the state department. We ask our informer - who are they- he tells us they are reporters- see they're carrying laptops and badges. Oh yea. Starting to feel like we have this stuff down now.
Now the sirens and motorcycles are coming. Sully and I are upfront and this tell lady now stands right in front of us- so we have to crank our heads to see around her. I figured I would have told her to move if Obama was coming past us. But... oh no- the troupe is headed to underground parking below the state house. A woman in back of me says that she saw Biden. It's incredible to see how Obama has to travel. Must be 20 motorcycle cobs, 14 black SUVs, 2 black Lincolns and an ambulance. We didn't get to see him, but our informer was impressed that this was the third time we were near the motorcade.
The guy tells us a good place to grab lunch- so the crowd goes back to work and we take off.
Watching the news at 11- we find out that Obama and Biden came to the state department with Hilary. Didn't see Hilary.
We walked around the Jefferson Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. Here's where all the tourist are. A zillion high school students running up and down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Such energy. FDR exhibit is always wonderful to see and read.
Now headed to find a place to eat. Walking up 21st. and see a crowd. Ask folks what's going on and a nice guy- in a suit and tie (they all dress up here) tells us he works across the street in the federal building and he's a "political junkie" and there are rumors that Obama has a meeting in the State Department at 1:50 and they are waiting to catch a sighting. How do people find this stuff out?
Any way this fellow tells us that the "other guy" never came to the state department - not that he minded. A few other comments and bingo we find another Obama supporter. The police have 21st street blocked off. Always a clue, something is happening. Now comes a bus and a cop and dog are inspecting this empty bus. Our "informer" tells us it's probably the bus that will carry the press. Imagine going to a meeting with a press bus.
We wait a few more minutes and this same guy tells us he and his wife drove down to the concert and he expected to park in his building (must be somebody- if you get a parking space in your building) - with all the streets closed off he couldn't come close- so his wife jumps out and goes to the concert and he drives home. Smart wife don't you think?
Now we see some motorcycle cobs leaving the state building. Crowd is building and more excitement. We are experienced (since we already have seen Obama's troupe twice) and know that the sirens and cops mean he is on the way. More people come by and walk across the street to the state department. We ask our informer - who are they- he tells us they are reporters- see they're carrying laptops and badges. Oh yea. Starting to feel like we have this stuff down now.
Now the sirens and motorcycles are coming. Sully and I are upfront and this tell lady now stands right in front of us- so we have to crank our heads to see around her. I figured I would have told her to move if Obama was coming past us. But... oh no- the troupe is headed to underground parking below the state house. A woman in back of me says that she saw Biden. It's incredible to see how Obama has to travel. Must be 20 motorcycle cobs, 14 black SUVs, 2 black Lincolns and an ambulance. We didn't get to see him, but our informer was impressed that this was the third time we were near the motorcade.
The guy tells us a good place to grab lunch- so the crowd goes back to work and we take off.
Watching the news at 11- we find out that Obama and Biden came to the state department with Hilary. Didn't see Hilary.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Oh-Bama Day... Jan 20th, 2009
Waking up at 5:15 a.m. wasn't easy except for Sully who woke up at 3:00 a.m and was so excited she couldn't go back to sleep. Were on the bus by 6:00 and on our way. Metro got more and more crowded the closer we got to D.C. A couple of women across from us had 5 kids between them, all sleepy eyed and dressed in layers heading to the Capitol Mall for the big event, history-in-the-making. It's was so awesome to see folks of every age braving the freezing cold to witness this exciting event.
We were in the Mall by 8:20 and placed ourselves close to a big screen monitor in front of the Washington Monument. The next challenge....stay warm and pass the time until the ceremony starts. Nor managed to read the paper cover-to-cover while Sully just did people watching. Met a nice man from Ohio who brought his 84 year old father who had last attended Kennedy's inauguration and wanted to attend Obama's to "close the parenthesis". One guy looked at my binoculars and said "honey, you need a peroscope not binoculars". He then put me on his shoulders so I could take a picture of the crowds looking towards the Capitol and back towards the Washington Monument. Lots of folks, lots of stories, lots of excitement and obvious emotion all around.
Finally the ceremony started....lots of pomp and cirumstance. Fun to see some of the notables but really everyone just waiting for Obama and his family to make their entrance. The crowd cheered some, booed others (like BUSH). It was good to see Ted Kennedy. Aretha Franklin's "America the Beautiful" was moving. Obama's speech was so right on target and (hopefully) shamed some in the former administration. Being in that crowd at that moment felt like such a privelege and I was so happy we made the trip. It was worth every minute to see him become our president. It feels good to say Barack Obama is our president!
Getting out of the Mall took some time and once back out on the street we decided to go to the Mayflower Hotel, warm-up and celebrate with a glass of wine. So we found comfortable table, visited with others celebrating the occasion and enjoyed watching the parade on TV....we stayed warm and cozy. We heard stories from a few who had inaugural tickets and weren't able to get in because the security stations were overloaded and they just stopped putting people through. So we didn't feel so bad about not having tickets.
Walked around town a bit more where the streets were full of people partying, tuxedos and gowns heading to balls, sounds of celebration goin on! Finally got home after being gone for 15 hrs, getting on trains going the wrong way and seeing tuxs on the Metro line. What a day, an Oh-Bama Day.
We were in the Mall by 8:20 and placed ourselves close to a big screen monitor in front of the Washington Monument. The next challenge....stay warm and pass the time until the ceremony starts. Nor managed to read the paper cover-to-cover while Sully just did people watching. Met a nice man from Ohio who brought his 84 year old father who had last attended Kennedy's inauguration and wanted to attend Obama's to "close the parenthesis". One guy looked at my binoculars and said "honey, you need a peroscope not binoculars". He then put me on his shoulders so I could take a picture of the crowds looking towards the Capitol and back towards the Washington Monument. Lots of folks, lots of stories, lots of excitement and obvious emotion all around.
Finally the ceremony started....lots of pomp and cirumstance. Fun to see some of the notables but really everyone just waiting for Obama and his family to make their entrance. The crowd cheered some, booed others (like BUSH). It was good to see Ted Kennedy. Aretha Franklin's "America the Beautiful" was moving. Obama's speech was so right on target and (hopefully) shamed some in the former administration. Being in that crowd at that moment felt like such a privelege and I was so happy we made the trip. It was worth every minute to see him become our president. It feels good to say Barack Obama is our president!
Getting out of the Mall took some time and once back out on the street we decided to go to the Mayflower Hotel, warm-up and celebrate with a glass of wine. So we found comfortable table, visited with others celebrating the occasion and enjoyed watching the parade on TV....we stayed warm and cozy. We heard stories from a few who had inaugural tickets and weren't able to get in because the security stations were overloaded and they just stopped putting people through. So we didn't feel so bad about not having tickets.
Walked around town a bit more where the streets were full of people partying, tuxedos and gowns heading to balls, sounds of celebration goin on! Finally got home after being gone for 15 hrs, getting on trains going the wrong way and seeing tuxs on the Metro line. What a day, an Oh-Bama Day.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sully's B-Day
After such a nite of partying - we slept in. Didn't get our butts out of bed and to the Metro until noon. We had planned to go to DeFazio's open house at his office - but never made it.
Off to the Kennedy Center. We found long, I mean Long lines... both for Oprah and Aretha's concert. We wrote outstanding essays - but Oprah's screeners didn't think so. So we never got tickets. Decided not to spend the day waiting in line for tickets for Aretha's concert so we walked around the Kennedy Center and back to the "Mall". Excited as we were to see the Newsmusem- hit another long line- why are we surprised?? We'll do this museum later in the week - when we have more time.
Went into the National Gallery of the Arts- these buildings are so incredible. On to the mall - the concert from the day before was playing on all the screens in the mall. Fun to listen to the music as we walked to the Korean Exhibit. Loved the "life size " soldiers.
The mall was crowded with people checking out where they want to be tomorrow. We figure - we either go the "swearing in cereomony " or the parade. No way to get to both with these crowds. We're opting for the "swearing in".
Meeting people from all over the world. Everyone is very friendly and we all share stories, where we're from and why we decided to come. It's incredible to see families with 2-3 kids all excited about Obama and the change.
Tonight we are babysitting Billie (3) and Bobbie (4), our friends' boys where we are staying. We lost 4 games of "Candy Land" and 2 games of "Chutes and Ladders" - I think they change the rules so they could win. Took us a few games to catch on- when we finally did- they were bored and wanted to watch movies. What sweet kids. They are great pals and fun to see them interact with each other. Oh, to be a young mom again with 2 little ones. (just kidding- my boys didn't play this good together, ever)
We're headed out tomorrow early - to the Metro by 6 AM- this will be a long day- but full of history and emotion. We'll go to bed early. Since this is Sully's b-day and she is a year older- I need to make sure I take care of her.
Off to the Kennedy Center. We found long, I mean Long lines... both for Oprah and Aretha's concert. We wrote outstanding essays - but Oprah's screeners didn't think so. So we never got tickets. Decided not to spend the day waiting in line for tickets for Aretha's concert so we walked around the Kennedy Center and back to the "Mall". Excited as we were to see the Newsmusem- hit another long line- why are we surprised?? We'll do this museum later in the week - when we have more time.
Went into the National Gallery of the Arts- these buildings are so incredible. On to the mall - the concert from the day before was playing on all the screens in the mall. Fun to listen to the music as we walked to the Korean Exhibit. Loved the "life size " soldiers.
The mall was crowded with people checking out where they want to be tomorrow. We figure - we either go the "swearing in cereomony " or the parade. No way to get to both with these crowds. We're opting for the "swearing in".
Meeting people from all over the world. Everyone is very friendly and we all share stories, where we're from and why we decided to come. It's incredible to see families with 2-3 kids all excited about Obama and the change.
Tonight we are babysitting Billie (3) and Bobbie (4), our friends' boys where we are staying. We lost 4 games of "Candy Land" and 2 games of "Chutes and Ladders" - I think they change the rules so they could win. Took us a few games to catch on- when we finally did- they were bored and wanted to watch movies. What sweet kids. They are great pals and fun to see them interact with each other. Oh, to be a young mom again with 2 little ones. (just kidding- my boys didn't play this good together, ever)
We're headed out tomorrow early - to the Metro by 6 AM- this will be a long day- but full of history and emotion. We'll go to bed early. Since this is Sully's b-day and she is a year older- I need to make sure I take care of her.
Day of the Concert
It's back on the Metro Sunday morning to make our way to the concert at Lincoln Memorial. We feel like we have this Metro routine down and are glad we did the trial run to town on Saturday. Today there are more people but luckily it's a bit warmer with temps in the 20 degree range rather than teens.
We exit the Metro at "Foggy Bottom" and wind with the crowd towards the Lincoln Memorial. There are street vendors every few steps peddling Obama buttons, tees, hats and gloves. Nor buys a scarf then we stop at a little "jiffy mart" and grab some snacks for the day. We noticed as we were making our selections that there were no prices on anything but I guess we were too hungry to put things back at that point. Lesson learned...don't buy "priceless" items as you will be gouged.
Back out to the street to join the crowd heading to Lincoln Memorial. More people, streets blocked, police everywhere. People excited and friendly. We made it through the purse/bag inspection and were in the park! Took a few pictures at the World War II Memorial but it quickly became evident that we wouldn't make it close to the stage, i.e Lincoln Memorial so we headed for an area right in front of one of the large monitors they had placed throughout the crowd. We people-watched for next 2 and 1/2 hours waiting for the concert to start. People from all over the country and heard foreign languages being spoken as well. It feels so good to have so many people excited and hopeful about the future of this country because of Obama.
We didn't realize that the concert was a "live and orchestrated" event not just a concert. The Bidens made their entrance followed by Obama, Michelle and the girls. Bruce Springsteen opened the concert with a choir behind him. In between each performer there where speakers who spoke about our country's history. Speakers included Tom Hanks, Forrest Whitaker, Latifa, Samuel Jackson, Tiger Woods and so many more. The performers were Bono, Bon Jovi, Beyonce, James Taylor, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Shikira, Grobin, and more. I can't even remember all of them. Every once in a while the camera would land on Obaba just smiling his wonderful smile and movin' with the music. Lots of sing alongs and the crowd was really into it. Fun to see the camera show the crowds which went from Lincoln Memorial well past the Jefferson monument. Lots of joy all around. Everything went smoothly considering the size of the crowd and of course there were police everywhere and security atop the Lincoln Memorial.
We decided to walk to Georgetown and find a place to eat. As we were making our way in that direction we hit a roadblock....police cars blocking the intersections and we could tell someone important was going to be passing. Sure enough, it was Obama's limo and Nor saw him through the window! Again the whole scene with his car preceded and followed by motorcycle police and quite an entourage of other vehicles. Helicopters overhead...the whole works. Amazing how much of one's personal life is gone in that position. The crowd so wanting to see him and chanting O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA.....
We found a nice little restaurant across from the Mayflower Hotel where the Bidens were staying and had a nice window seat where we could watch party goers entering and exiting the hotel. After a nice dinner and sharing a bottle of wine we decided to follow some of the "gowns" to see where the ball might be. We followed them to another entrance of the same hotel and watched people as they entered the lobby. Decided to go in to see what we could see....apparently this was an Ohio and Maryland gala. We thought had we not had our hiking boots and rubber boots on we may have been able to walk right into the party hall! May have to shop for gowns at Goodwill and try again on inaugural night (w/out the hikers). Stopped a few more hotels but did not see anyone of note that we recognized but had fun until I hit the wall and Nor had to drag my tired a_ _ home.
We exit the Metro at "Foggy Bottom" and wind with the crowd towards the Lincoln Memorial. There are street vendors every few steps peddling Obama buttons, tees, hats and gloves. Nor buys a scarf then we stop at a little "jiffy mart" and grab some snacks for the day. We noticed as we were making our selections that there were no prices on anything but I guess we were too hungry to put things back at that point. Lesson learned...don't buy "priceless" items as you will be gouged.
Back out to the street to join the crowd heading to Lincoln Memorial. More people, streets blocked, police everywhere. People excited and friendly. We made it through the purse/bag inspection and were in the park! Took a few pictures at the World War II Memorial but it quickly became evident that we wouldn't make it close to the stage, i.e Lincoln Memorial so we headed for an area right in front of one of the large monitors they had placed throughout the crowd. We people-watched for next 2 and 1/2 hours waiting for the concert to start. People from all over the country and heard foreign languages being spoken as well. It feels so good to have so many people excited and hopeful about the future of this country because of Obama.
We didn't realize that the concert was a "live and orchestrated" event not just a concert. The Bidens made their entrance followed by Obama, Michelle and the girls. Bruce Springsteen opened the concert with a choir behind him. In between each performer there where speakers who spoke about our country's history. Speakers included Tom Hanks, Forrest Whitaker, Latifa, Samuel Jackson, Tiger Woods and so many more. The performers were Bono, Bon Jovi, Beyonce, James Taylor, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Shikira, Grobin, and more. I can't even remember all of them. Every once in a while the camera would land on Obaba just smiling his wonderful smile and movin' with the music. Lots of sing alongs and the crowd was really into it. Fun to see the camera show the crowds which went from Lincoln Memorial well past the Jefferson monument. Lots of joy all around. Everything went smoothly considering the size of the crowd and of course there were police everywhere and security atop the Lincoln Memorial.
We decided to walk to Georgetown and find a place to eat. As we were making our way in that direction we hit a roadblock....police cars blocking the intersections and we could tell someone important was going to be passing. Sure enough, it was Obama's limo and Nor saw him through the window! Again the whole scene with his car preceded and followed by motorcycle police and quite an entourage of other vehicles. Helicopters overhead...the whole works. Amazing how much of one's personal life is gone in that position. The crowd so wanting to see him and chanting O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA.....
We found a nice little restaurant across from the Mayflower Hotel where the Bidens were staying and had a nice window seat where we could watch party goers entering and exiting the hotel. After a nice dinner and sharing a bottle of wine we decided to follow some of the "gowns" to see where the ball might be. We followed them to another entrance of the same hotel and watched people as they entered the lobby. Decided to go in to see what we could see....apparently this was an Ohio and Maryland gala. We thought had we not had our hiking boots and rubber boots on we may have been able to walk right into the party hall! May have to shop for gowns at Goodwill and try again on inaugural night (w/out the hikers). Stopped a few more hotels but did not see anyone of note that we recognized but had fun until I hit the wall and Nor had to drag my tired a_ _ home.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Dingells
Thanks to Kara, Bill, Billie and Bobbie- wonderful hospitality- nice warm family and house- great place to stay in DC -
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Lady with the White Knee Socks
Meet her at the bus station. She gives us some directions. Nice, but not super friendly. We see her a few hours later in front of the Air & Space Museum. We just call her the lady with the white knee socks. Small world don't you think?
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