RJ's Adventures in D.C.

At intersection of Constitution and Pennsylvania

After completing my annual work trip to the Virgin Islands (average temperature 84), I ventured to Washington, D.C. for the Inauguration of Barack Obama with my friend Claudia Ford. We had no tickets but a comfy sleeping space at my friend Chen's house near DuPont Circle. We originally were going to stay in D.C. but when reports came that it might take us 6 hours on Metro to get BACK to Virginia, I strong armed Chen for the keys to his apartment. Which was just as Chen was staying in my NYC apartment--he wanted to escape the crowds!

Claudia is ready for a trip south

Monday night, we listened to the weather reports while nursing steaming hot mugs of tea, expected temperature was maybe 34! I had originally proposed backing out but Claudia F was all for going, just to be there and I am grateful she persuaded me (well it was originally my hair-brained idea so for me to propose backing out at last minutes was a rather cheap move.)
We awoke to DC's NPR station and my phone ringing with Metro text alters which started at 6:30 am! The Metro (subway) was already crowded! By 8:3o am the Mall as viewed on TV was half-full. . . they didn't open the Mall 'til 8!
We left our warm townhouse around 9:20 for the mile or so walk down (New Yorkers are never afraid to walk!) On the street, we were stopped by an attractive 30ish guy drinking coffee, bundled against the cold.
'Are you going to the Mall?'
'Yes' we replied.
'I have tickets.' One or both of us must've frowned. He quickly added. 'To give away, not for sale--if you don't take them, they will go to waste.'
He pulled out maybe 5-6 tickets, asked us to peel off two and wished us luck! I figure he was a Congressional staffer.
We stood for a few minutes revising our planned walk to 18th and the Mall (near the Lincoln Monument and the jumbotrons).
Thank goodness I printed out a 'walking' map from the Presidential Ingauguration Committee.
We followed the map to 3rd and E NW and went through security, about a 30 minute delay. Got onto a corner and were told the entrance to the "Silver Seating" area (ours) had been closed 10 mins before due to crowds. No! Don't fear! We were disappointed but man, after what we heard others went through, never getting close, we were lucky! I do think printing out that map was what paved our way --many people were trying to enter the Mall area and from the north there were only three entry ways.

It was incredibly marvelous to be outside, freezing off my tuckus for a moment that I will remember and talk about until I'm 82! Though the speakers were a bit iffy, i heard the canons blast and knew it was real. It was a new day and to quote a one of Charlie Gibson's friends, This Country is better than it knows itself to be. And things have gone seriously off course the last several years, I believe we can recover and prove our ancestors proud.

Click on this photo for a larger view of the Capitol Grounds.

The red dot above next to the legend is where Claudia and I were honored to stand and listen, see and feel something that will hopefully live in all of us for some time to come.

And now for a bit of music courtesy of will i am--click on the blue to get to the video:

It's a New Day:

Lyrics: I went asleep last night
Tired from the fight
I've been fighting for tomorrow
All my life
Yea I woke up this morning
Feeling brand new
'Cause the dreams that I've been dreaming
Have finally came true

It's a new day
It's a new day
It's a new day
It's a new day
It's a new day

It's been a long time coming
Up the mountain kept runnin'
Souls of freedom kept hummin'
Channeling Harriet Tubman

Kennedy, Lincoln, and King
We gotta invest in that dream
It feels like we're swimming upstream
It feels like we're stuck inbetween
A rock and a hard place,
We've been through the heartaches
And lived through the darkest days

If you and I made it this far,
Well then hey, we can make it all the way
And they said no we can't
And we said yes we can
Remember it's you and me together

I woke up this morning
Feeling alright
I've been fightin' for tomorrow
All my life
Yea, I woke up this morning
Feeling brand new
Cause the dreams that I've been dreaming
Have finally came true

It's a new day
(it's a new day)
It's a new day
(it's a new day)
It's a new day
It's a new day!

It's been a long time waitin'
Waiting for this moment
Been a long time praying
Praying for this moment

We hope for this moment
And now that we own it
For life I will hold it
And I ain't gonna let it go

It's for fathers, our brothers,
Our friends who fought for freedom
Our sisters, our mothers,
Who died for us to be in this moment

Stop and cherish this moment
Stop and cherish this time

It's time for you and me
For us and we
That's you and me together

I woke up this morning
Feeling brand new
Cause the dreams that I've been dreaming
Have finally came true
Yea, I woke up this morning
Feeling alright

'Cause we weren't fighting for nothing
And the soldiers weren't fighting
For nothing
No, Martin was dreaming for nothing
And Lincoln didn't change it for nothing
And children weren't crying for nothing

It's a new day
It's a new day
A new day
It's a new day
It's a new day!