These are my crowd shots -- it really was unbelievable

It was so cold that...

Sam's gum froze.

Success on Inauguration Day (bodes well for President Obama)!

We found an excellent spot where we could see a screen and the Capitol. We couldn't really make out the figures up there, but we could see them moving!

Inauguration Drama

So, we have our spot on the Mall, and we've been standing around for a few hours and watched the sun come up. On the big video screens, they were playing the concert from Sunday night, and lots of us started dancing to the singing because our toes were starting to freeze. Plus, we were all a bit "punchy."

It was very crowded, and people were trying to get through the crowd, but there was no place to go. I started to bond with my neighbors over this....

Then, the Tour Guide comes up and says she has an even better spot-- more room to move around, closer to the Capitol, and good viewing of a screen. Some of us (like me) didn't want to move, some did. The "some did's" won out, and we moved with the Tour Guide.

There are no pictures of where she took us, because I didn't feel like taking any pictures. You could see the screen if you were over 5 ft 5, which most of our kids were not. Tour Guide's statement, "Oh, people have moved in here since I last saw this place." Seriously.

A couple of the kids started crying, and Sam was very upset that he couldn't see anything.

I forgot to mention that our adult to child ratio on this trip was optimal. Each parent attending was responsible for his/her child and one other. Well, the Teacher asked my other charge, not to be confused with Sam, if he wanted to go to the Air and Space Museum to warm up. He said, "yes." So, Sam and I were left with some of the others-- the group had been separated by this point-- and neither one of us was happy that he couldn't see anything from where we were. I told the others that were left that Sam and I were going to find somewhere else so that he could see the proceedings.

Inauguration Morning, January 20, 2009

My most excellent roommate and I told our charges that we would be calling them at 4:15 in the morning to get up to go to the Inauguration.

I called up there at 4:15, and they were already up and almost ready. Everyone was super excited. I believe we boarded the bus at 5 a.m. Guess what-- driving into D.C., the Driver couldn't figure out where he was, and the Driver and Tour Guide proceeded to argue over whose GPS was actually going to get us there. Needless to say, we all became apprehensive.

But, we made it. As we were driving into D.C., we saw soldiers setting up road blocks and people walking towards the Mall. At one point, we started seeing what looked like hundreds of people walking towards the Mall, which made us kind of nervous.

Not to worry, our tour bus was stopped, and a nice young man got on. He asked where we were from, and when we replied, "California," he was quite impressed (or at least he pretended to be impressed). Anyway, he told us that the roads were closed, and we had to walk to rest of the way to the Mall. He didn't quite understand how relieved we were to be forced to get off the bus.

So, we joined the hundreds that were becoming thousands of people walking to the Mall. We filled the entire street. It was freezing, but everyone was so happy and excited that we just kind of buzzed along. As we got closer to the Mall, there were volunteers saying, "Welcome to the Inauguration," and "Not much further now." We replied, "Thank you."

D.C. Event, January 20, 2009 - Expect Delays

This is actually what one of those traffic signs said the day before The Event. I wasn't able to take a picture of it, but I thought it was funny, which is why I'm sharing it.

The Kids with Obama and Biden (cut-outs)

Monday night, we went to an (unofficial) Inaugural Ball. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and it was the only time during the whole trip where we had decent food.

The Ball took place at Camelot, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. They really did a good job-- very professional, which is why I'm mentioning them by name. Sam said it was one of the best parts of the trip-- good food and good music (according to him, I mean about the music, the food was good)-- what more could you want?

Well, we did want to get there without having to do a turnaround because the Driver and Tour Guide missed the sign for the place. Once again, too busy looking at GPS's to actually take in the signage. I saw the sign and started singing the "Camelot" song, and the Teacher in front of me started singing, too. Then, the Driver kept on going. I said, "Hey, there was a sign for the place back there." They kind of didn't believe me. So, I said to the Teacher, "You saw the sign, didn't you? You started singing the song." To which she replied, "I didn't see the sign. I thought we were just singing."

One more thing, some of our Bay Area kids couldn't get over how frequently we crossed state lines-- Virginia, Maryland, D.C.

P.S. I do know that D.C. is not a state.