IN staffers Sean Boone and Joani Delezen are in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration. Here is Sean’s report on Monday:
Its 8:42 and man am I beat.
After commuting all over town on the Metro subway, playing tourist in the capitol circle and standing in line for three hours in the cold to get inauguration tickets at the Rayburn House office building, its time to get a few hours of sleep before throwing on a new pair of long johns and doing it all over again in the morning.
Today was surprisingly simple, though–which will more than likely not be the case tomorrow. The plane ride into Dulles International was on time, our luggage wasn’t destroyed and the snowy conditions didn’t delay the shuttle bus out of Virginia suburbia.
While we haven’t seen any celebrities or figureheads yet, the amount of presidential swag being worn and sold throughout the city has been nothing short of amazing. You literally can’t walk more than 20 feet in the city without finding a button, shirt or a graphic of the president-elect.
People of all ages, races and styles are really, really excited.
I must say, there’s nothing like seeing a 70-year-old man wearing a sparkle-patterned beanie of a president that’s never been in office or having a lady offer you a picture with her cardboard cutout of Obama for $2 dollars at a McDonald’s.
Ah, D.C.
Its cold, its crowded and its totally awesome.
There really is no way to describe walking around the nations capitol during one of the most anticipated events of the modern era…wait…there is.
EXHAUSTING.
P.S. Are raccoons a common sight running down the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court? I’m still not sure if I was experiencing hypothermia or not.