Pre Inaugural Peek!

I just couldn't stand the thought of living so close to the Nation's capitol without seeing the Inaugural preparations with my own eyes so I woke up Kate at 8:00 this morning and asked her if she wanted to ride the metro downtown to see the preparations. Always up for an adventure, she said "yes"! It was a mere 27 degrees outside and so we dawned our warmest clothes, grabbed our cameras and headed out.

The metro parking lot was practically empty, and so that was a good sign. The subway soon filled with excited groups who were headed in the same direction. We sat by a group of teenagers from Arkansas who were here with their teacher to witness this historical inauguration. It seemed like Christmas -- everyone was filled with goodwill and laughter -- and it started snowing!

We got out at Union Station and started our trek around the Capitol. The first thing we noticed were the protesters out in front of Union Station. The next thing we noticed were the countless rows of porta-potties. We heard there will be over 5,000. That sounds like a lot, but if you consider there will be over 1,000,000 people, it doesn't seem like nearly enough!

We saw a lot of camera crews wandering around, groups of people from other countries, security guards with bomb dogs, and groups of national guards. We saw all the signs that will direct all the people tomorrow. We saw all the red, white, and blue bunting and flags, and we saw the platform and chairs set up on the west side of the capitol. We saw the flags lining Pennsylvania Avenue. We even heard them trying out the sound system -- and it sounded GREAT!

We snapped a few photos, eavesdropped on a few conversations, and got ourselves back to Union Station to get warm -- but not before we saw the fife and drum musicians playing their songs.

Once inside Union Station, we grabbed a hot chai and croissant. We were so happy we made the effort to go downtown today -- and are very happy we won't be there tomorrow with a million people. All that standing around in the freezing cold weather -- and waiting in a seemingly endless line for the porta potty!