Yesterday our nation participated as our first African-American president was inaugurated into office. It was an amazing moment in history.

Even more so as I was there, on the National Mall, to witness.

Jennifer and I woke at 4:15 that morning, were out the door by 4:45 in order to meet our friends, Jed and Leigh-Ellen, at their house by 5 am. Even though the ceremony wouldn’t begin until 11:30, we knew we needed to arrive early, both to have as good a spot as possible and to avoid, or deal with, any problems that might arise in our travel. We even boarded our dog, Jasper, the night before streamline our departure (and, in the case of being stuck in DC, to guarantee a caretaker).

Walking from our friends’ house, as they lived close enough to one end of a Metro line, was the first element of our plan. This proved to be a good thing. As we neared their house, still only around 5am, there was already a long line of cars waiting to enter the parking lot and make their way downtown!

After a quick greeting, the four of us hoofed it over to the Metro. We were all dressed as warm as our clothing would allow. My uniform: two pairs of hiking socks, waterproof leather shoes, long thermal pants, jeans, long-sleeve Under Armor shirt, long-sleeve turtleneck, wool sweater, coat, long-finger gloves under fingerless gloves, scarf, and two caps. Even so, my late morning my toes and fingers were feeling the chill and required flexing to stimulate warmth.

But I’m jumping ahead.

Being at the end of the line, there was plenty of room in the car at the beginning. My experience truly began on the ride down as I was lucky enough to be seated next to an African-American man, in his late 60s, who had traveled from north Pennsylvania for the Inauguration. I struck up a conversation with him and got the great story of his youth in the South, moving to the DC area when a teen to get out of the oppression, returning and fearing for his life during the bus riots, and attending Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous speech! What a way to begin!

All during the ride down, people flooded into the Metro car. By the time we had actually reached our destination it was a sardine can and required forceful pushing through bodies to exit.

Leaving the Metro and walking through the early morning streets of DC was an awesome experience. There were officers and uniformed military directing the traffic, keeping us from wandering off onto closed side streets. Some streets had buses parked across their entrances to signal we were not to enter. Even military vehicles were parked at various points. I found myself thinking of disaster or monster movies, with a city being evacuated and we were the refugees. Except refugees aren’t so happy!

Only a quick stop for cash and an Americano and we continued on our way. It was incredible to see so many people heading to the Mall to celebrate our new president.

When he hit the long stretch of green, we headed toward the Capitol. Jed is a pretty fine photographer (and I hope to get some of his pictures to share as my iPhone was hardly capable) and hoped to get as far up as possible. He led us at a charge, past the Washington Monument and into the throngs.

Ninth Street was as far as we could get, finding streets blocked off and guarded by troops. We did manage to capture a decent view for our position, finding the slightest of rises with the empty street in front of us. Unlike the one panoramic picture I took with my phone, the Capitol was clear and beautiful down the crowd-covered lawn, flanked by the various museums.

Then we waited.

Yes, it was slightly crazy to wait, in the cold, in the open, without being able to do much of anything, for four hours. Fortunately, being able to talk with friends and various people in the gathering crowd made the wait fly by. And the staring vacantly at the ground helped a bit too.

Anyone who was interested most likely watched it on TV and saw the same Inauguration we did. Nevertheless, being with that many people, all who chose this man to be a pivotal moment in history, made all the difference. The energy was amazing as the crowd cheered on our new President.

I have to say one low moment for me was the mass ‘booing’ of some of the outgoing administration, particularly Dick Cheney and President Bush. Yes, I am just as glad to see that term end but felt it was a day for celebration instead of derision. I also think the people’s voices were heard on Election Day and booing is unworthy of the time and place.

The other low moment was feeling the moment ended more with a whimper than bang, starting with the poem reading (at which we thought we’d get a head start and get out of there – didn’t do us any good) and extending through being trapped on the National Mall! Swarms of people drifting back and forth, trying to find an exit, moving like swirling eddies of water. There was no direction on where to go and we eventually found a seat off to one side for thirty minutes or so (after thirty minutes drifting). Finally we found our way out and headed back home.

We had no difficulties grabbing a meal at an Indian restaurant in the area, no problems boarding the Metro to return home. After retrieving our dog from the kennel and long hot showers, our day was done.

It was a great day for a great moment and we were glad to have been a part, even such a small part, of it.