Day Two 1/18/09

On the 18th which was our second day out east, we got up late, ate a huge breakfast at Brian's cousin Suzi's house, hung out and then went to the Metro station to head to Alexandria, VA and Brian's Aunt Diane's house. I had a ton of thoughts in my head, but mainly thinking about my commitment not to complain. I made this commitment with myself, not Brian (although it was really for his benefit). About halfway to the Metro station I started feeling nauseous. And it didn't go away. I was nauseous all day and evening. There were moments of unsureness - I really thought I was going to just puke! But I didn't, and I didn't complain either. Here's the first ride on the metro.



After Aunt Diane picked us up at Huntington station, we went back to her house which was a really cute apartment! I loved it and could have lived there. We pretty much dropped our bags and went back to Huntington station and on to Washington D.C. We were so excited to get into town.

The first true sign of the Inauguration that we saw was the MSNBC van. It was so exciting!



Then heard some girls doing an Obama cheer. Here they are decked out with tons of Obama pins. I imagine they were selling them also - lots of people were doing that.



We walked down the mall, toward the Washington Monument. It was beautiful at night. It is such a significant landmark in D.C. I hear there are stairs you can climb to the top and see out - I think it would take me two days and probably 25 inhalers.



Our next stop was the WWII memorial. This is something new in D.C. I think it's awesome. I took a picture at the South Dakota one in remembrance of my grandfather. He fought in WWII and was able to come back to his family. He never talked about it, but when my Aunts and Uncles when through their house they found a barrel or two with some memorabilia, some Nazi arm bands, a Luger stuff like that. Sometimes I wish we were able to know our grandparents longer and when we are older so there is more appreciation of the time spent. But that is a whole notha blog.







We walked past the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pond - I don't actually know the real name right now. But it is the rectangular pond. Here's some illegal mischief that Brian brought on.








The Lincoln Memorial was just ahead. They had just finished up with the Pre-Inauguration concert that aired on HBO. People were in line at 8 AM that morning waiting to get it. It was a free concert and lots of amazing talent was there. Stevie Wonder was there. I really wanted to see him, but we were not educated about the show enough to know when it started or when to be there. It's not something we planned on. Even though we couldn't get close, I totally got a view of Lincoln sitting in his eternal chair. What a majestic man! They just don't make em' like that anymore...



After Lincoln, we walked down Pennsylvania where I got a peek at the White House. We met up with some kids Brian new through his mom who volunteered for Obama. They actually became two wonderful new friends, Flip and Christina. Both hail from Iowa. Flip actually was the Obama worker and who also lived and still lives with Brian's mom. Brian's mom takes in workers for campaigns. That is how she volunteers for them. So Flip is like Brian's step brother or adopted brother. Anyhow - we walked back toward the capitol where we were meeting them and walked past the area that we figured was fenced off for our tickets (silver) and about 500,000 porta potties. That night would be the one and only time I used a porta pottie in D.C. I know it's going to be everyone's biggest question...

So up to the capitol we go and meet our new friends Christina and Flip. After the meeting we took the metro down to Old town and walked until they were going to close all the restaurants. We ducked into one called Austin's and had some fine faire - which we were all starving. Then headed back to Aunt Diane's to get a little rest before Inauguration Eve started, which will be my next post. Here's some nighttime photos of the capitol.



And on our way to the metro I snagged a photo of this piece of art. So fluid. I loved it.