Tom at the Inauguration
Tom writes (under duress -- he wants to go to bed and Lisa is making him stay up and post this):
Around 10 or 10:30 a.m. these folks were trying to get into the last available spots on the Mall. Everyone was in a good mood. There was a sense of excitement, though some people were coming to the realization that they weren't going to see anything and that they could have done better in their living room watching events on TV.
12th and Independence SW, facing west: This had been one of the entrances to the Mall and it had just closed when I got there. The soldier was saying, "If you go down to the next entrance, you still may be able to get in, but you gotta go now because it's closing soon."
12th and Constitution SW facing east: Same scene, facing the opposite direction. This is the line with hoards of people streaming in. Going west down the street, there were several barricades that you had to get through. People were compressed into much smaller space. It was at that point that you started to realize, "Wow, if something happens, nobody is going anywhere because there was no room for anybody to move."
Just south of the Washington Monument, exactly one mile from the Capitol building: This is where I got onto the Mall and watched the swearing on a JumboTron. I was surprised that there weren't more people at this location because there were people all the way back to the other end of the Mall, another mile away. There were three National Guard soldiers right in front of me and after Pres. Obama gave his inaugural address, someone behind us asked the three soldiers if she could take their picture. She took their picture and thanked them very much for their service. I thought it was very gracious of her.
John Stewart said that they had come up with an excellent way of clearing the Mall in a hurry after the inaugural address: poetry. He was right on target. As soon as Barrack finished speaking, everybody started moving -- and talking on their cell phone. I was testing the cellular network for work and before the address, it was open. Afterward, it was completely jammed for at least half an hour while people were looking for their friends and trying to get out of there.
By this point, I was getting cold and hungry and made my way back to my company's office that was our temporary home base. I was amazed to see people milling around everywhere. It was a good thing that they had closed the streets to car traffic because cars couldn't get through anyway.
Back at the office, I met up with two of my colleagues and we got ready to go home by Metro -- that is until we saw that the line to get into the Metro station was about two blocks long, not counting the actual line inside the station itself. So we walked. And walked. With our laptops getting heavier and heavier. We walked across the Memorial Bridge into Rosslyn, four miles in all. It was a rush walking on the George Washington Parkway with no traffic except for cops. Then Lisa rescued me and took me to dinner. I slept very well that night. I was grateful to be home because when Lisa dropped me off at the office the night before (I slept on the floor to avoid the rush) I recognized there was an outside chance of a terrorist attack and wondered if I would make it home. I hadn't said anything to Lisa outloud, but I think it was on both of our minds. So thanks to all the people that kept us safe that day.
Around 10 or 10:30 a.m. these folks were trying to get into the last available spots on the Mall. Everyone was in a good mood. There was a sense of excitement, though some people were coming to the realization that they weren't going to see anything and that they could have done better in their living room watching events on TV.
12th and Independence SW, facing west: This had been one of the entrances to the Mall and it had just closed when I got there. The soldier was saying, "If you go down to the next entrance, you still may be able to get in, but you gotta go now because it's closing soon."
12th and Constitution SW facing east: Same scene, facing the opposite direction. This is the line with hoards of people streaming in. Going west down the street, there were several barricades that you had to get through. People were compressed into much smaller space. It was at that point that you started to realize, "Wow, if something happens, nobody is going anywhere because there was no room for anybody to move."
Just south of the Washington Monument, exactly one mile from the Capitol building: This is where I got onto the Mall and watched the swearing on a JumboTron. I was surprised that there weren't more people at this location because there were people all the way back to the other end of the Mall, another mile away. There were three National Guard soldiers right in front of me and after Pres. Obama gave his inaugural address, someone behind us asked the three soldiers if she could take their picture. She took their picture and thanked them very much for their service. I thought it was very gracious of her.
By this point, I was getting cold and hungry and made my way back to my company's office that was our temporary home base. I was amazed to see people milling around everywhere. It was a good thing that they had closed the streets to car traffic because cars couldn't get through anyway.
Back at the office, I met up with two of my colleagues and we got ready to go home by Metro -- that is until we saw that the line to get into the Metro station was about two blocks long, not counting the actual line inside the station itself. So we walked. And walked. With our laptops getting heavier and heavier. We walked across the Memorial Bridge into Rosslyn, four miles in all. It was a rush walking on the George Washington Parkway with no traffic except for cops. Then Lisa rescued me and took me to dinner. I slept very well that night. I was grateful to be home because when Lisa dropped me off at the office the night before (I slept on the floor to avoid the rush) I recognized there was an outside chance of a terrorist attack and wondered if I would make it home. I hadn't said anything to Lisa outloud, but I think it was on both of our minds. So thanks to all the people that kept us safe that day.
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