Day 2 and 3 of the Washington, DC Trip!!!

Day 2 (January 19th, 2009) video log of our day can be found here:

http://video.lisarein.com/thepete/stuff/ThePeteTV/tv20090119.mp4

For some reason, it was yanked from YouTube by YouTube's policies, maybe because there's a snippet of Renee Fleming singing in the background on the Jumbotron while Pete & I were by the Reflecting Pool of the Lincoln Memorial. HBO is stingy that way...although we were on PUBLIC land. Sigh...but you can at least see it at the above link.

and then...

DAY 3!!! January 20th, 2009! The Inauguration Celebration of President Barack Obama!!!!



Pete & I woke up at 8 am, got out and onto the Metro by 9 am, and with an only minor delay on the red line (apparently, a woman fell onto the track but was OK), we made it onto the Mall and to a reasonably historic waiting place by 10:30. We had vowed to each other that we'd take any delay or "crappy" viewing place in stride, and that the important thing was that we were there and adding our voice and physical mass to the supportive audience. So, we made our way literally right in front of the Washington Monument, about 10 feet in front of the roped-off circular string of flags, facing the Capitol Building. My 5'2" frame couldn't see anything, but with Pete's camcorder and monopod setup (via the viewfinder) we were able to see the jumbotrons and a fair (albeit zoomed in) view of the Capitol Building waaaaaay off in the distance. We at least were able to hear the swearing-in. After we screamed our heads off, we went down to a Starbucks to warm up and have coffee/chai tea...it was crowded, but at least we chose to wait and not swarm the Metro train just yet. About 1pm we headed back to my aunt & uncle's house in Bethesda, where we blogged, cut video, and uploaded pics. We also watched the parade from their large screen TV, sitting with our laptops alongside my teenage cousins on the couch with their laptops. And I even signed up my uncle to twitter...tee hee...

I must say the second biggest joy to be had in Washington, DC, besides the swearing-in ceremony was getting to know Jay the Pal, Pete's new muppet friend. Seeing him interact with Washington, DC at the museums, on the Mall, and with other people was marvelous :) He found his voice there, which is certainly a great thing to say.

So here's the clip of "The Moment" as experienced by us, and a bit of a leadup:

http://thepete.com/thepetes-washington-dc-trip-day-3-thevlog-20090120