The Day Before Change

After spending a week at Brandeis and going to the SSIS retreat at a house we rented in Cape Cod, it was time to head to Washington, DC for the inauguration.

I got in at 10:30 a.m. today and was surprised to find a pretty quiet airport. The only odd thing was they had 3 TSA agents at the gate re-checking people getting onto our plane. I took a bus and a subway to the George Washington University campus and was met by Marc Friend at the station. About a week ago, he ordered me a special inaugural guest pass (a great souvenir), so I can get pass security at his dorm. Apparently they only have a guard for the inauguration and usually you just swipe in. We relaxed for a bit and then headed out for lunch and a bit of sightseeing.

We headed towards the White House after stopping for lunch at a great deli, and found it blocked (not surprising). We were trying to see the White House from the north side but we did not realize it would be blocked because that's where Blair House is (where Obama is staying). There was a large crowd gathered at the gate so we decided to stick around to see if we could catch a glimpse of Obama. He had just arrived a half hour earlier and his motorcade was outside but all we knew was that he had dinners to go to so he could not be leaving for hours.

We decided to leave since nothing seemed to be happening and then a black SUV pulled up across the street and someone got out attracting a large crowd around him. We stood our ground at the gate for a little because we had good spots but then we decided to leave and see who it was. As we crossed the street he started getting back into his car, and we saw that it was Al Sharpton in the flesh. The police cleared the street to let him leave pushing me right to window where Al Sharpton was doing some last minute hand shaking. The car started inching away and I found myself right at his window, so I stuck out my hand and with my right hand shook his hand, he smiled, waved one more time, and then sped away. Though he's certainly no Obama, it was a funny consolation.

We then walked to try to get a glimpse of the White House from the south. That of course we found blocked off too, so we walked a little further to the national mall and we were able to stand 100 feet from a fence that was about another 100 feet from another fence. Basically not very close but you can still see it there in the background. Anyways, we're leaving to go stand on the mall at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow so it's time for bed. It's going to be a day I don't think I'll ever forget.