Back home and happy

Let's see.... the events in Washington:
We saw Capital Steps at the Ronald Reagan Center and laughed and laughed
We walked along the parade route on Sun. night and seeing the bleachers set up already
Monday:
We drove out to Silver Springs, MD to visit some old friend of Mike's
Susan, Ken, Terry, Mike and I walked over to RFK Stadium to participate in the National Day of Service
We walked over to a friend of Susan's who went to high school in Anchorage for drinks
We walked over to Pennsylvania Ave SE for dinner at Sonoma
Tuesday:
We were up early and out the door by 7 am
We walked in a thickening, friendly crowd toward the Mall, and along the south side of the Mall
We set up camp just southeast of the Washington Monument, close to a Jumbotron
We watched a recording of the Sunday concert on the jumbotron and then... the Inauguration
I cried. Everyone cheered.
Crowd crush as we left, and it was a very polite crush.
We all straggled in to Susan and John's to watch the news, the parade, eat, share experiences of the day
We got dressed up and went to the Capital Hill Neighborhood Ball (500 tickets were sold) and dancing to an incredible swing band. Susan was happy because they played "Happy Days are Here Again"
Wednesday:
We walked over to the Hart Office Building for coffee with our Senators.
We got to talk to both Mark and Lisa
Ken and Terry drove us to Newark
We flew home... there were lots of Inauguration folks on the flight from Newark. Still quite a few on the flight from Seattle to Anchorate
We got to bed at 3 am Thursday

I am still glowing from the event.

Sunday Walk on the Mall

We approached the Capital Building from the east. Stack of security fencing waiting to be assembled. Lines of porta potties. People everywhere. We walked toward the Washington Monument. The jumbotrons were still being assembled. Just passed the monument, we joined the crowd watching the Lincoln Memorial Concert on jumbotrons. The crowd thickened as the concert progressed. Everytime Obama appeared on the screen, the crowd cheered. It was incredible. People snaked through, saying excuse me. We queried our neighbors about who was singing. The energy was incredible. This was an amazing experience.
We started walking back before the concert was over and strolled passed the jumbotrons on the mall, watching the concert. We stopped and sang "This Land is Your Land" with Pete Seeger. We watched President-Elect Obama address the crowd at the end of the concert and listened to Beyonce' sing America the Beautiful. I felt so fortuanate to be there.

Sunday Jan 18 2009

Ken and Terry picked us up at the Newark airport yesterday and we drove to Susan and John's house on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. The techno-fun was that I used my IPhone to navigate us to our destination. Tired after the long flights from Alaska, we stayed up a little while drinking wine, catching up, and planning our adventures for the next few days. Too many options, so we just planned out Sunday.

John knocked on our door at 8:15 on Sunday morning. We did our various morning routines then set out on foot for Susan and John's church, St Mark's Episcopal Church, for the Sunday sermon at 10. Paul Abernathy, the priest, gave a sermon about what the inauguration of Barack Obama means to him and then invited the congregation to come up and speak about what the election of Barack Obama means to each of them. I can write a little or a lot about the sermon and what folks said. I'm choosing a little. As we walked home for lunch, and at lunch, we shared in turn what the inauguration of Barack Obama means to each of us. I think that's another post.

John and Susan live about 8 blocks west of the Capital Building. After lunch, we set out to walk to it, and then down the mall to the Washington Monument. The set up for the inauguration was in progress: security fencing and all the porta potties from a wide radius.

There is lots more to write about - it's been a thrilling and marvelous and exhausting day and I have to go to sleep now.