Green Glasses in the District: The day that I had relations with no less than 47 strangers on 7th street.

January 20, 2009: the day that we have been counting down to since November 8, 2000; the day that brings to fruition the hope that we can be proud of our country once again; and the day that I had relations with no less than 47 strangers on 7th street. Yes, it was Inauguration Day in Washington, DC.

My posting has lacked frequency lately, in part because all that we have heard, seen, and experienced since the New Year is inauguration. The SUVs have gotten bigger and darker, the American flags have gone jumbo size, and the potential for getting harassed by a trigger-happy Capitol Police with Secret Service envy has intensified exponentially. As an Obama tshirt clad kind of girl, I was pretty stoked about inauguration. But as a Washingtonian who needed to try to still live and function and even be productive - I was pretty ready for the inauguration to be done.

So Inauguration day started for us at 4am, awakening after an impromptu celebratory gathering at our apartment turned slumber party. I played Martha Stewart - making coffee and cooking breakfast before squeezing into my smartwool baselayers (I think that that is the classy way of talking about my long johns.) No adventure is complete without an accompanying knitting project, so Sean and Kelsey played with the swift and ball winder so that I had some fun wool to keep my potentially idle hands occupied throughout the day. (oh how optimistic and naive I was)

And we were off!

Equal parts excitement and "oh god its 5 in the morning."

We lucked out with a relatively empty train that quickly filled up within a few stops. One of the few times that it is fortunate to live further away from the Capitol.

Getting off at Galleryplace/Chinatown seemed like a brilliant plan. Pedestrian crossover, multiple security checkpoints within a close distance, and close to the front of the area open to the general crowd. So we hoped off the bustling metro and made our way south.

Things really picked up within a block when we came down 7th towards the security checkpoint at D. The streets were filled with people - cheering and singing and generally elated for what the day was to bring.

Our walking was quickly halted as we piled in front of the checkpoint. Rumors went around that it wasn't going to open until 7am. Frustrating, but that's ok. We'll just wait out here in the toasty teen-degree weather, watching the sun come up.

Day broke, 7:00 came and went. So did 8:00. So did 9:00.

And we waited. At this point we had a crowd of thousands piled in behind us, so the options to move or go somewhere else were pretty limited.

So we waited some more. We had lots of time to enjoy our surroundings. In particular was a group who kept losing Linda. The physics of this astounds me, as we were packed in so tightly you couldn't even reach into your own pocket most of the day (except when the crowd would shift forward a foot and then you had a rush of exhilaration - woo! we're moving; oh god don't turn into a stampede). So how Linda could slip away still mystifies me. But inevitable, every hour or so we would hear 5 - 10 minutes of of a woman screaming "Lindaaa?! ... Linda!? ... Linda?!!!!"

10:00 came and went. 10:30, It was time to throw in the towel. We retreated out the side in hopes of making it to a tv before the swearing -in ceremony.

So we hustled along Indiana to the 3rd Street tunnel. Walking through the highway tunnel was a little strange, only later that night did I find out about the poor purple ticket holders who were stuffed in the tunnel by the thousands for hours and hours earlier. Eeek!

We popped out the other side and wound our way around the masses. We were the tiny lone fishes swimming up stream to the eager ones descending upon the Mall. "Good Luck!"

[insert picture of Kelsey outside of Subway, caption: "I didn't pee my pants!" :) ] Yea. Standing on the street all morning made for a very full bladder. Sean and I were lucky enough to slip into camel mode; Kelsey began to give us full reports. "80% capacity now....um, I'm at like 90% now, I think we should go soon... "

We vagranted ourselves down Pennsylvania Avenue in search of a seat and a television, eventually landing at Conrad's Pub. Ohh Conrad's, site of an epically awkward first date in which I'm fairly certain something was slipped into both of our drinks; ancient pub with all of about 8 seats that no one (even Hill veteran residents) seems to know of; and now the establishment that played the inauguration on three different stations creating a pretty trippy experience to try to discern what was happening at the swearing in.

Not getting into the Mall made for a trip home that was smooth as butta. Finally in the comfort of my technology, we were able to find out that there was a water main break at our security checkpoint; information that would have been really helpful had someone thought to equip the security with a megaphone or the decency to try to communicate what was going on.