Wow, what a day it was yesterday on the mall for the Inauguration!  I had all my Amnesty stuff ready to go -- petitions, magnets, flyers, hat and t-shirt, and we left the house at 6AM to walk to Virginia Square metro.  We went back and forth on whether to take the "family" wheelchair -- it would be a pain, but would it be useful in the end?  We decided to take it...more on its usefulness later in this post!

At Virginia Square there were a good number of people, but not a mob by any means.  However, as  the trains heading into town came by, they were already mobbed.  We watched two come in and there was no way we could squeeze on.  So, we went over to the other platform and headed outbound -- figured we'd go to the end of the line and hope to get on there.  A few people joined us on that empty train who were doing the same thing.  We got off one stop short of the end, and were able to get on a train.  I got a seat, and Doug stood with the wheelchair in a little vestibule.  And, by the time we got to Virginia Square, we could clearly see that we wouldn't have any better chance had we stayed.  I guess people got on somehow, but we were glad that our scheme worked.  It also made us feel that there was no way we'd get back home on the Metro...once we were on the Mall, all trains were mobbed.  But...we decided to worry about that later.

We got off at Federal Triangle and walked over to the mall.  We had our eyes out for coffee -- Doug and I are in a big morning coffee habit, but if we got coffee, it would have been about the only thing we did all day, so we suffered for the cause.  Amazingly, we realized later in the day that we didn't get headaches or other reactions the way we expected.  Doug said it must have been something to do with the cold; who knows, but it was unusual.  

I had been assigned a quadrant of the mall between the Smithsonian castle and the Natural History Museum, so we set up shop there.  Later in the day I talked with Kate, and she and her group were in the same area -- wow -- they could have been within shouting distance but there was no way we would have seen each other!  By the time we arrived it was already packed, so we found an area near, but not too near, the porta-potties.  As an aside, the planners seemed to do a great job with the potties -- we read that it was the largest US assemblage of them in history!  And we were part of it!  I went off with my Amnesty hat and got signatures to:  close Gitmo, sign a proclamation prohibiting torture, form a commission to look into our use of torture in the war on terror.  Lots of people just grabbed the clipboard and signed before I even gave my spiel, others said they don't sign petitions, one teacher with a group of students yelled at me for soliciting minors...but all in all, it was an interesting experience.  The people who signed were from everywhere, every corner of the country.  Some people seemed to feel that Obama's election cured all ills, so they didn't need to sign.  I know that he will make a lot of things better, but I also know that pressure still counts and Amnesty and other groups need to keep it up.

You'd have to describe the crowd as heavily African-American.  I haven't seen numbers on that, but my unscientific opinion was that in our area it was over 50%.  It was something they didn't want to miss, and the whole atmosphere was of joy and celebration.  When the music from the concert was playing in the morning, big groups were dancing and singing.  

People of all ages were there, but I didn't notice many babies or strollers, which was a wise decision on the part of parents.  It wasn't cold by many standards, but it was in the upper 20's I think, and standing for hours just set the cold in.  There was a little unhelpful breeze, but it also could have been worse.  Fortunately the sun was out and that must have helped a little.

Needless to say, we didn't get close to Obama, but the jumbotrons are pretty effective, and the sound system was good.  We clearly saw and heard everything.  

After the oath we joined millions in deciding what to do next.  Finally we concluded that we'd be better off walking home, and headed toward the Lincoln Memorial and Memorial Bridge.  It was pretty slow going the whole way, in that streets were blocked and all kinds of barriers funneled people into little chutes -- annoying, but maybe they had some reason for it.  People were being considerate and polite, thankfully.  We made it past the WWII memorial to the Lincoln and over the bridge into Virginia.  As we walked, our toes got feeling again!  At Arlington Cemetery we had to veer over to the Iwo Jima Memorial, than back again to Route 50, where we picked up a bike path that goes right by our house.  

Now comes the wheelchair.  At something like the 6 mile mark I pulled a grandma -- I just shut down.  This is very frustrating given how much I've been working out, etc.  But, there you have it.  I could have made it...very slowly.  But my gallant husband plopped me in the wheelchair and pushed me home.  I can see why people resist wheelchairs -- it is such a feeling of failure.  And I'm surprised that Doug could make it when I couldn't -- he doesn't get the exercise I do and he has to work all day.  But, he was the strong one and got me home.  Luckily I had put a roast into the crock pot before we left, so we devoured dinner at about 4 PM.  

Do we have to talk about Michele's clothes?  Well, yes.  She hit it out of the park, I think.  I love that she's a solid woman, tall, not skinny and comfortable in her skin.  And you know, you have to wear something, so why not look great, and she does.