"To the Best of My Ability"
Pt. 3 - Inauguration Day
After spending Monday evening printing out maps of the National Mall and plotting out our plan to get to our ticketed area, Charlie and I went to bed early, knowing we had to get up before dawn the next morning.
On Tuesday, January 20th, we woke up at 4:40am, brushed our teeth, washed up, and donned our layers of under armor, t-shirts, sweaters, wool socks, and walking shoes. With coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and ear muffs on, we climbed into the car for the drive to Camden Yards to catch the train that would take us to Union Station.
Still dragging from lack of sleep, we arrived at Union Station and were immediately caught up in the excitement of the day as others heading to the inauguration shouted "O-Ba-Ma" and lined up to catch the various trains heading to D.C. It was early, it was super cold, but we were pumped. This was it! This is what we had been planning for! Here we go!
A short hour later we arrived at Union Station and followed the huge crowd of people off the platform, out of Union Station, and onto the streets of Washington, D.C. We immediately pulled out our walking map and tried to orient ourselves. We knew what route we needed to take, we just had to figure out where we were so we could get on track. It was 8:00am and while the area outside of Union Station was definitely crowded, it wasn't packed. It was easy to maneuver and we thought we were in pretty good shape to get to the Silver Ticket gate on Third St. In fact, when we ran into a reporter from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Charlie told him the atmosphere was one of "Controlled Chaos" - not bad, but there was that potential. What we didn't know was that many people had already been in the area since 5:00am - we were already way behind.
After a couple of false starts, we asked a guard where we needed to go and he sent us down Louisiana to the first major bottleneck of people we encountered that day. It was about one city block long and jammed full of people. We were swept away by the crowd toward 1st, which was blocked to traffic. Charlie was able to get away to the side of the road, out of the crowd. I was not prepared for that many people. At 5'2" all I saw were the backs of the people surrounding me and all I felt were the people pressing up against me on all sides. What started as a "crowded" feeling, quickly turned into a panic attack that took a bit to recover from. Once I had my wits about me and we were out of the crowd we doubled back to find our way to where we needed to be - the now infamous 395 tunnel.
Googling "395 Tunnel Inauguration" returns over 32k hits. All of them mention the crowds and almost all of them mention the frustration and disappointment of getting stuck in the highway the runs underneath the National Mall. In a way we were lucky - we were not Purple Ticket holders. We were not stuck in the line that ran the length of the tunnel waiting for hours to get to the Purple entrance gate only to be turned away. At least we made it out to the other side of the tunnel.
Out in the daylight on the other side of the tunnel, Silver Ticket holders (that was us) were told to "head this way". We followed the signs and directions toward the line and began following it back, trying to find its end. Blocks and blocks later, between tour buses and through underpasses, we finally reached the end, ready to take our place, only to see handfuls of people running by going the other way. Down one block from the end of the line, was the Silver entrance. We saw a Police officer and asked him where we should go. He pointed toward the gate and said, "There's the entrance." So, we ran to the gate, ignoring the line of people. At 10:00am, after 2 hours of walking, we had finally made it to the Silver gate only to promptly get stuck in another terrifying crowd of people.
Thirty minutes and 6" later, we decided to make our way out of the crowd and over to a small incline. It looked over the throng of people and afforded us a better, if not closer view of the Capitol building. We stood there for a few minutes, trying to regroup, and after a few minutes learned that the actual entry gate for Silver Ticket holders was closed. The gate was shut down because the Silver area was full, allegedly due to non-ticket holders rushing the gate. After hearing of all of the other complications of the day, this doesn't surprise me, but I don't know for sure. The only thing that matters is the small incline, overlooking the crowd, well behind the reflecting pool on the National Mall is the farthest we ever got. After one failed attempt at skirting the crowd, trying to get closer, Charlie and I came to the realization that all of these people had to make their way back through the 395 tunnel all at once. And on that note - we left.
Back on the Union Station side of the 395 Tunnel we found a vendor who was really nice and turned on his car radio so we could listen to President Obama's inaugural address. As the three of us stood there a small crowd gathered around. With eyes not registering one another, with heads nodding in agreement, or shaking in disbelief, we listened to our 44th President speak of hope and change. That single, solemn moment was amazing. It was what allowed me to put all of the disappointment of the day behind me. Don't get me wrong, the day was a disaster, but for the first time that day I was able to look at the millions of people differently. I was able to be amazed and proud that there was such a tremendous turn out. And that's how it should be.
After listening to the inaugural address we walked to Union Station and hung out there until 5:30pm, when we caught our train home. It was a long wait, which gave us the chance to meet a lot more people who had stories similar to ours. Charlie made a good point, though - people who went into the day with high expectations (i.e. with tickets) were leaving disappointed and those who went into it with no expectations at all were leaving fulfilled.
We made it home by 8:00pm and Bob met us at the door with shrimp and beer. While we ate, we answered calls from friends and family calling to see how the day went and we watched coverage of the days events on CNN and HLN.
And that was pretty much it. Like I said two posts ago, I can now look back on the day with the fondness it deserves. I was part of the chaos that was the inauguration of Barack Obama. I was there!!!
"America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let
us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more
the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our
children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end,
that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon
and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and
delivered it safely to future generations." ~ Barack Obama
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