And we venture home...

We were not the only ones exhausted on Wednesday morning.. as we moved through the hotel lobby, then the streets of DC and the train station.. everyone seems tired yet still happy and hopeful and so grateful to be have been part of history. It was cool to walk through Union Station and pass the stage that Barack and Michelle had their last inaugural dance on just 8 hours earlier.. (see photo).

On the train back to Philly, there were a group of Tibetan Monks who had come in for the Inauguration. They didn't speak or understand a word of English beyond "Inauguration?", but they kept smiling at us so sweetly.. and it was so cool to watch their interesting rituals as we travelled by train together.

Tomi picked us up at the 30th Street station (thank you Tomi!) and took us to Kristi's to hang with her brood for the afternoon. Amber and Gabby even made an appearance (thank you Kristi)! We played with the babies.. and just enjoyed each other and lunch... (Boy did we miss Chef Chung's Chinese food and Destephano's cheese steaks).

Some other afterthoughts and additions:

At the inauguration and the days proceeding it.. I have never seen so many fur coats in my life. What was up with that?

I wish we would've bought more souvenires off the streets.. today they seem much cooler to have than they did then!

It was so incredibly cool when we were riding up the escalator of the Metro with thousands of people behind us.. and Brittney turned around and yelled "Obama"! and the crowds cheered! and then she yelled "Yes We Did!" and they all yelled it back to her! "Yes We Did!" (You will see this on the video Shawn made..) Such joy, inspiration and passion!

Shawn video taped and Brittney took tons of photos on her camera.. so when they are done with their edits etc.. i will post them here too.

So glad Jack didn't join us.. he would've been very unhappy with the cold and the crowds..

Have I mentioned lately how much American Express Travel sucks? We had our choice of Embassy Suites on 10th Street and Embassy Suites on 22nd street.. and not knowing the layout of DC I asked "which one is closer to the Capitol". They tell me the 22nd Street one and that's where we should book.. uuugghhh - NOT TRUE! The Capitol was at 1st street.. Nice Am Ex.... I can thank you for the blisters, the frost bite and the extra couple of pounds we lost walking those extra 15 plus blocks every time we left the hotel!

Also to note, I mentioned USAirways discontinued all inflight entertainment on their domestic flight.. so the night before we left for this trip Shawn went to Radio Shack and bought the IGO adapters so we could plug my computer in on the plane (in our first class seat with the plug the I used 15,000 miles each to get). Oh Yeah - except now USAirways ALSO decided it's okay to use the America West planes on some Usairways routes.. and the America West planes have no plugs! So there we sat, with the computer, the bose headphones, the adapters, the boosters, the extra batteries, tons of movies.. and we can't use any of it ... no plug.. 5 hours. no new magazines... a glass of wine and nap.. some meditation and work.. and a deck of cards (yes, I still beat Shawn in 500 rummy every time). I'm so done with USairways...

Shawn and Brittney had finals today in school.. They are tired and Shawn is battling a cold (the canvas Chuck Taylors he wore in 6 degrees temperature didn't help I'm sure). But they are very excited that they were part of history. They have told the story a number of times.. and feel the exhilaration of having being part of such a greater experience. Greater than us, but inclusive of us. I hope that our adventure will be a story they tell their children and grandchildren for many years to come..

Yes We Did! and We Were There!

The Inauguration of Barack Obama

I am just now recovered enough from today's events to even get on the computer! My body feels like it's been through 5 Bikram Yoga workouts... So here it goes...

Brittney, Shawn and I woke up at 5am thinking we were ahead of the game showing up 5-6 hours early for the Presidential Inauguration! We got out of the hotel by 6am.. it was still dark outside. We were able to get a taxi to 6th street (as a reference, our hotel is on 22nd street and the Capitol is at 1st street). It was even weird driving in the cab.. as we saw lots and lots of people quietly walking in the freezing cold down streets that were mostly deserted from traffic.

We had planned via the official websites and went to the entry point for general admission that was closest to the Capitol. Alas.. the Army man on guard tells us "no entrance on 6th street anymore. Try 3rd street." Okey dokey then.. we walk down to 3rd street. Two Presidential Volunteers tell us to go to 3rd street as well. There are lots of people gathering at 3rd street to get across the parade route and enter the National Mall. The police tell us "they will open this point at 7am". Well since it was 6:45am already.. made sense to just wait....

By 7:15am when we hadn't moved (now stuck in the middle of an every growing crowd at 3rd street) we start getting a bit annoyed. Amazingly, the spirits of the crowds were very calm and cool and happy.. even though it was about 10 degrees out, dark and windy! So at 7:15am when we start making a ruckus, they tell us all "they will open the gates at 7:30am just stay here! By the time you try to get to another entry point, it will be too crowded". Ok.. may as well wait another 15 minutes.. right? a woman in the crowd starts to sing "the Star Spangled Banner" in a megaphone.. ok cool.

We move about 20 feet.. as this game of bait and switch continued until 8:15am... all the while anxieties are mounting as we're all thinking "other people are getting into the National Mall and we're stuck here!" At 8:15am the police tell us "Sorry, this line no longer allows access to the Mall.. only the parade!" WHAT!!?? We've been here for 90 minutes! Now what? The sun has come up.. everyone is coming now.. and we're still not at the Mall!

We go to the Metro and ask some of Presidential Inauguration Committee Volunteers how to get into the mall! (mind you we're only like 3 blocks away but everything is blocked off!). They say we should take the Metro and they tell us which stop to get off. We venture underground. At least it's warm!

I've never seen a subway like this.. literally every ounce of space was taken up by a body. Again though, peaceful, chanting, singing and joyfully tolerating the quite unusual loss of any personal space. We change trains and as we're approaching our stop the conductor announces "due to crowding, we will not be stopping at the Smithsonian stop". SHIT! so the guy next to us says "you'll be ok with the stop after Smithsonian, don't' worry". As we approach that stop.. again we hear "due to overcrowding we will not be stopping at this station." Aw JEZ!

So we get off the next stop and emerge back out into the cold.. where are we? Well luckily we are on the other side of the Mall now, passed the blocked off parade route.. but we are all the way at 1st Street now! Start walking... zig- zagging, back tracking.. climbing barriers, moving through bushes, working our way to where we can enter the mall! 3rd Street again? nope.. closed now on this side too. try 7th street. Get to 7th street... no way.. closed - try 12th Street.. get to 12th street.. no.. keep going .. so finally so many people are frustrated that we all start jumping the fences and barriers to get into the Mall! It's 11am! The Inauguration is beginning!

Big mistake jumping that fence.. no wonder if was closed.. there was not enough space for the any more bodies in that section.. literally. So as we all couldn't move (i couldn't even lift my arm to scratch my nose).. we decide "let's get out of here and go back more!". Easier said than done. Now we can't get out. Hundreds want to get out.. and can't! Amazing that there were no fights, but we certainly got very intimate with many many strangers all trying to get out! We are chanting "Let us out! Let us out!". They are blocking our exit because all of the buses with the Marines and Schools performing are passing us to get to the Inauguration stage... oh my what an adventure!

We bust free.. and move down to the Washington Memorial.. around 15th street.. freedom! space! and we can kinda see some of the Jumbo Trauns just in time to see Diane Feinstine take the stage. Way cool. Here we are. Me, Brittney and Shawn with millions of people, in the freezing bitter cold, in the National Mall of Washington DC on January 20, 2009 at high noon.. watching our 44th President take his oath of office.. Incredible. So clearly historic and inspiring. We made it.. we (me, brittney and shawn) and we (our country and soon to follow I think our world). Change is here. The shift we are seeking. Hope not Fear. Open hands not fists. What a wonderful time to be alive.

When the moment so quickly actually passed, we work our way out and head back to the hotel. Again tons of roads closed and such crowds on the streets that were open that we could only take little baby steps to walk. More shrubs, barriers and fences to climb. we're getting good at this. We haven't sat down or eaten, gone to the bathroom or had anything to drink for 7 hours! We make it to our hotel by 2pm.. and cannot even move a muscle!

After some food and long naps.. I wake up at 7pm and think "damn, we have tickets to this Legends Inauguration Ball tonight and the last thing I want to do is shower again, and dress up in my gown and go back out in this cold!" The kids are still napping. I go online to see what the cancellation/refund policy on the tickets are (since they were stupid expensive) and BAM! there it is! "American Music Dionne Warwick Legends Ball cancelled! Refunds will arrive in 30 days". Yippee!! I love how the Universe works!

So the kids and I just stayed in tonight, watched a couple of movies.. the tv coverage oft he parade and official balls... and resting up from our wonderful experience. To be such a part of this collective, so much bigger than us or anything I've ever seen.. so important.. was worth every second.

We are heading back home tomorrow morning.. via a little visit with Kristi and my grandbabies in between. More then! As Jack would say "good night and god bless"..

Martin Luther King Day in DC

Yesterday we had lunch at the Oval Room.. which is a power lunch type place right across the street from the White House. Our beautiful cousin Ashley Carlton met us there for a quick visit! Ahsley used to live in DC (now lives in NYC) and just popped down for 2 days to visit. So good to see her!

We then walked to the "We Feed Our People" soup kitchen at the Martin Luther King Library... where we were scheduled to volunteer to help feed homeless and hungry folks. Amazingly there were so many more volunteers there then there were people to feed! This should always be the case! We literally had to wait in line to take a shift to help.. . funny. We paid a short visit to Kid Power (an organization that helps educate, empower and inform kids in DC to change their lives).

We strolled through China town (which wasn't much to write home about) and then over to the Capitol! My battery died on my camera as soon as we got out.. so I'll have to wait until we get home to upload the photos from Brittney's camera. The 3 photos here are from cell phone.

It was so cool to see the Capitol all set up for today. Thousands of other people were getting close too. The city is alive with excitement and joy and relief! There are vendors every 5 feet selling souvenirs.

We were so tired after having walked about 5 miles around the city.. we went to a movie in late afternoon to see Frost/ Nixon.. and then walked back to the hotel (about 3 more miles).

It's 5:40 am now.. we are heading to the National Mall now to find our spots to witness history... which us luck!!

Some more pictures from Sunday

Here are just some more pictures from Sunday that I couldn't figure out how to get into the last blog...

The Welcome Concert and Lincoln Ball

I finally got the kids out of the room at 2pm... (the movie Ghost was on TV and they became obsessed with watching the whole thing. Shawn even made fun of me when I cried. I told him everyone cries at Ghost.. and he made me a bet that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about).

By the time we made our way past the road blocks and the army... the gates to the Welcome Concert at the Lincoln Memorial were closed! (who knew they would close them at 2:30!?). Thankfully there were many other places along the National Mall to stand with thousands and thousands of other fellow Americans and watch on big screens as right up the street the concert was going booming.. we danced and sang and watched as artist after artist paid tribute to this joyous occasion. The hope and excitement in the air was so beautiful...

Brittney, Shawn and I were all standing right next to the Washington Memorial during the concert.. so if you saw it on TV.. that's where we were. James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Garth Brooks, Usher, Stevie Wonder, U2 all rocked the place.. I was amazed at how many thousands and thousands of people, with no fights, no drunks, no problems that i could see anywhere. Everyone was just joining together in this common knowing that we were experiencing a beautiful part of history. The shift is in our country I think is becoming obvious to many...

The concert was over at about 4pm and we worked out way back to our hotel.. via the Whitehouse and a Subway sandwich shop.. It's pretty cold but not unbearable. Porto potties line all the streets! The bleachers are set up all along Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade. Signs everywhere welcoming Obama and his family to Washington DC. Very cute.

We had about 90 minutes to get all Black Tied up to head to the Lincoln 2.0 Ball at the Smithsonian Institute. Shawn wore his tux, Brittney wore her one of kind Grammy dress (Uli). The site of the ball was also where Abraham Lincoln had his 2nd Inauguration Ball.. pretty cool. Tickets were compliments of the incredible Keb Mo who rocked the house right before Anita Baker! The theme was Victorian so there were alot of folks dressed up in that era in glorious gowns and even some confederate uniforms... Fun dancing and good food and wine...

Probably the coolest aspect of this Ball was that it was in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, so we got to explore several floors of the museum almost in complete privacy. The special Lincoln exhibit was really well done... and the section of American Presidents was incredibly interesting. I think even the kids dug parts of it.. believe it or not.

While we are having our DC adventures... Jack was in Vegas and then Phoenix to watch his Eagles lose their superbowl shot... sorry honey!

Shawn said his favorite part of the ball was that when we were in the taxi on the way back... the motorcade (we assume Obama's) passed us on the street... Everywhere we drive there are lights, limos, tuxedos and gowns.. the city is alive with excitement.

We are back and in bed pretty early... lots to do tomorrow and Tuesday. The funniest part is that right before I wrote this blog, Shawn had rented the movie "my best friend's girl" and there is a scene at the beginning were the badass guy is sitting in his apartment ... doing what? Watching the movie Ghost and crying!!! Brittney said "Oh Shawn! You got owned!" The Universe totally rocks! More to come tomorrow...

Brittney, Shawn and I venture to Washington DC!

So here we go! We left an 80 degree L.A. yesterday morning.. fly on Usairways to Philly (note: Usairways has discontinued ALL in flight entertainment on ALL domestic flights! NO MOVIES!) When we landed in Philly it was 18 degrees! Oh my! My blood has certainly thinned from living in southern California for over a decade. Friggen COLD! Kristi, Ryann, Jaxon and Logan picked us up at the airport! Yeah! My grandbabies! and we went to the World Cafe Live for dinner.

Tomi, Joey, Jenna, Eleanor, Dakota and Cooper all met us there for a good dinner.. I got the great call for our tix to the Lincoln Ball tomorrow night (tonight).. so I'm really excited about that! World Cafe Live looks great! I remember touring it when they were in construction! So good to be with so many people I love... and the eggplant fries rocked!

Our train to DC was delayed a little over an hour. Britt tried to sleep in the train station on a bench but an Asian couple almost sat on her head.. so her slumber was disturbed. Train ride was good.. Shawn and I watched old family movies on my computer. It was great to see and hear my mom.. .

Got to DC at about 11:30pm.. The train station was still all decorated and put together with stages and flags and red carpets everywhere from Obaama's arrival just a few hours earlier. The line for taxis was out of control long and there were no taxis coming! We found a town car, got a good deal and off we went to the Embassy Suites. We're on 22nd street.. it's actually quite a beautiful Embassy Suites.. (should be for the crazy price they are charging us for these 4 nights!). And we have a good amount of space (2 queen beds and a sofa bed). We were all sound asleep by 1am... the next 3 days we'll need all our strength and stamina!

This morning's free breakfast buffet was amazing! Too bad I only wanted coffee.. but I am totally impressed with what they provide complimentary to their guests..

Trying to wake the kids up now to get them headed to the Welcome conert at the Lincoln Memorial! This whole blogging thing is cool.. thanks for the hook up Dawn! More later.