Mindful Ramblings - Here’s hoping that photos are a valid means of...

21st January 2009

Photo reblogged from delete the adjectives with 183 notes

Here’s hoping that photos are a valid means of foreshadowing …

A New Beginning!

The Inauguration was sooooooooo awesome! We woke up at a bit after 5 a.m., and Sara and I were up and dressed relatively quickly. We stayed at my friend’s house in Arlington (My friend Matt and his g/f were there, one of my room mates and his friend from Peabody were there, as well as our friend Steve, whose house we stayed in). I went around the house and woke everyone up, but it took most folks a while to get ready and we did not leave when we wanted to. We had to make lunch for the road and all …

We walked about 2 miles to the Metro station. It was a good walk, and we arrived there around 7:25 a.m. We were near the Vienna end of the Metro, but the place was still PACKED!! We waited a bit for the first couple of trains, each of which was too full to allow us to board. So, we waited for the next train headed to Vienna, and went to the end of the Orange line, and waited for the train to come back the other way, thus preserving our seats. The only problem was that we still had to wait another half hour before heading into the city, and a number of time-consuming stops along the way. After the long ride, we arrived at the National Mall at about 10:30 a.m.

We were quickly able to find the bathrooms (you’ve never seen so many port-a-pottys on your LIFE! I don’t think anyone had before yesterday) and afterwards noticed a very large video screen nearby. That area was sparsely populated at the time, but every area between our location and the Capitol was packed. We could not get any closer, and had to endure a number of difficult crowd maneuvers in order to get to where we were. Within a half hour of arriving there, our area was just as packed as everywhere else on the Mall.

We saw the opening ceremonies, the swearing-in, the Inaugural Address, and the set-up of the parade. We also saw parts of the parade later as we were attempting to leave. The leaving: that was an Odyssey if there ever was one. The one thing that I disliked about the day was that there were very few signs alerting the attendees about how to go about leaving. We found ourselves in so many places that ended up being dead ends, because it was not clear which streets were closed off and which exits were blocked. We finally made it, but it took us a couple hours and a few miles of walking.

The thing I loved most — the only thing that could have made the day better for me after witnessing that historic Oath and such a transformative speech — was the fact that I was able to see forner President, George W. Bush, LEAVING Washington, D.C. for the last time, aboard Marine One. The torturer (or the Chief Enabler of torture) is GONE!

Welcome, the AGE of Obama!!!

Source: thedailywhat