One of the things that was great about subbing was that I could do whatever I wanted and take as much time off as I wanted. One things I ended up doing was heading out to DC for the inauguration, something I never would have been able to do otherwise.
Jenny and I took off after JAM and flew the red-eye into DC where we met up with Slowman and dropped our things off at the apartment six blocks from the Capitol.
We tried to keep ourselves occupied during the day so we wouldn't be jet-lagged and went to the Supreme Court and then down to the Smithsonian. We "watched" the 3-D movie in the Natural History museum and by watched, I mean napped a bit.
The next day, I headed down to the Corcoran Gallery, since I had included it in a story. There was an incredible exhibit about political cartoons which of course had to include Hogarth. I love him so much.
Jenny and I met up at the White House and then hit up the American History Museum of the Smithsonian. Lots to see there and not too crowded yet since the weekend visitors hadn't yet descended upon Washington.
That night, we got together for Idaho Happy Hour. From left to right: me, Sara, Chris, Brandon, Linnae, Slowman, Ben and Jenny. We went to a pub for a bit and then down to Ben's Chili where the walls were filled with pictures of famous visitors, including Obama and Bill Cosby.
On Saturday, we toured the Capitol and then I met up with Elina, who I hadn't seen in years! Jenny's knee was bothering her so I headed down to the Mall to see the festivities being set up. And I was on MSNBC for a short few seconds!
The next day was the concert on the mall so we attacked from the backside, going first to the Jefferson Memorial and then to the FDR Memorial, which are both near each other but far away from anything else. We managed to get a pretty close seat (and by seat, I mean SRO) for the concert, which included pretty much every American celebrity and singer that you can imagine.
Do you need anything more than James Taylor and honorary American Bono? I think not.
How about some Pete Seeger?
I went to the Holocaust Museum on Monday morning (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) and was taken aside to make sure that my water wasn't vodka. Good grief. That night, I got to see some of the monuments in the dark, which are just gorgeous. I think the Korean is better at night and in the rain than during the day. It's one of my favorites, even more than the Vietnam Memorial.
FInally it was inauguration day! Justine met us as Slowman and Sara's and after picking up some coffee and snacks, we headed down to the Capitol. We ended up in a ticket area but nobody asked us for anything and we were in the first section in front of the Cap. So close! We made friends with the people standing around me, Pam and Peg, as we called them, and watched the "stars" come onto the balcony to watch the festivities. It was freezing and our legs hurt from standing so much, but I didn't feel cold thanks to my big jacket and my boots. The inauguration was amazing- such a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
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