Inauguration 2009 – We Were There!

Following a longer-than-expected recovery, I’m excited to finally report back about The Luxury Spot’s experience at the Inauguration! To say that it was quite possibly one of most thrilling, emotional, and coldest days of my life would be an understatement…

Rie (one of our Luxury Spot interns) and I began our journey from Baltimore to D.C. at 5 A.M., and arrived at the National Mall around 6:30 A.M. –  still before the sun had risen, which meant a whole lot of standing around in below-freezing weather. While Rie and I snuggled in with the herd of people surrounding us to keep warm, these guys had a better idea:

Photo by Rie Hirata

Enough about the cold, though. The conditions were surprisingly not bad for having to accommodate a whopping 2 million people; there were plenty of Port-A-Potties (sans the awful smell!), refreshment stands, and warmth stations to go around. The real task was finding a spot that was as close to the Capitol Building as possible because our press pass landed us in an area that was only ideal for news teams outfitted with super duper zoom lenses on their cameras.

Photo by Rie Hirata

So the fun began! After getting so cold we thought we might actually catch hypothermia, we briefly retired into a heated federal building, then proceeded to scope out better viewing areas. Little did we know that it would take us on a bit of a wild adventure…

Photo by Rie Hirata

Following jeers from an angry crowd of ticket-holders that weren’t being let into their viewing area in time for President Obama’s Swearing-In, someone decided to take matters into their own hands and encouraged everyone to jump the barricade separating us from the acres of empty land. So we did. And the Secret Service/Guardsmen/Police just stood by and watched. (What can you do?)

As a result, we were much closer. I was so excited, I about peed my pants (but did not)!

Photo by Rie Hirata

When President Obama finally began delivering his inauguration speech, the hustle and bustle died down and nothing could be heard but his words echoing down the length of the National Mall. Standing there at that moment – being a part of something so historic – was such a surreal experience, and it’s a story that I will certainly be proudly passing on to my children and grandchildren.

By day’s end, Rie and I were not just tired, but we were so exhausted that we crashed on the floor of the National Air and Space Museum for a catnap (don’t judge, lots of other people had the same idea!). Shortly thereafter, we made our way home to warmth, food, and a renewed sense of personal space.

My prized souvenirs from our escapade include my press pass, my collection of Washington, D.C.-specific commemorative periodicals, and…

Photo by Rie Hirata

…my Obama earrings!

Here’s to hoping every one’s weekend Inauguration celebrations will be as grand as mine!