Inauguration Day

Last Tuesday we woke up at 3:45 in the morning to brave the cold for inauguration day (we had great tickets at the very front of the mall!).

We watched the sunrise as we were crammed like sardines on the street waiting to be let in, and the whole time I was praying that we wouldn't get trampled.

It is difficult to explain how cold it was, but after about an hour and a half I couldn't feel my feet anymore. (We were outside for about 8 hours). Eventually we resorted to huddling together for warmth, which received mixed reactions from those around us in the crowed. I have to say we at least all left the mall much closer friends than we started out.










This picture doesn't do it justice, but estimates are that 2 million people were on the mall with a couple million more total in the city. The streets were just seas of people, I don't think I am a big fan of the crowds.







I think my favorite part of the whole day was our walk home. We didn't want to wait hours to squeeze on to the metro, so we just did like everyone else, hop the cement barricades and walk on the freeway the 3 1/2 miles home. We jumped all 8 lanes of this freeway, and walking home felt like the end of the world, or at best that we were refugees. It was a little eerie, but quite adventurous!

My First Day in D.C.

So I thought the perfect spot to begin my story would be my grand entrance in to our nation's capital. Fortunately for me I do not have any pictures to post with this story.

It all began when I chose to fly United . . .
After arriving at the airport with my two huge suitcases holding all of my belongings I discovered that my flight was delayed due to weather conditions in Chicago. They told me not to worry because my connecting flight would be delayed as well. After boarding the plane an hour late we taxied to the runway where we got a call from Chicago asking us to postpone. So we sat on the runway for another hour . . . Again they told us not to worry. As we proceeded for takeoff they discovered mechanical problems in our navigation system, to make an even longer story shorter we deboarded the plane waited another hour, reboarded the plane and finally left Salt Lake 4 hours late. Needless to say I missed my connecting flight and spent the night in Chicago.

Upon my arrival in D.C. the next morning I quickly came to the realization that I was not in Utah anymore and that my luggage was not very user friendly. Not to be deterred I hopped on the Metro (with only a little help from the station worker) and continued the journey to my apartment. It was only at that point that my confidence in finding my apartment shattered and I realized I had no idea which direction to go.

This story does however have a happy ending and I eventually got to my apartment (after wandering in the wrong direction for a while), but I was exhausted, tired, and dirty, and made quite an impression on the city. It is difficult to describe my ungraceful state, but that can be best done by the words of some kind resident who rescued me from the four stairs leading to the elevator. "Here let me help you, you look like you have had a rough night." Indeed I had.