My dear "mom in residence" Ginger Primus sent friends and family the story of her adventure today. Ginger has lived in McLean, VA for decades and is a veteran of crowds on National Mall. But as we all saw today, this was different:
Starting at 5 this AM I joined a sea of humanity -
a million of my closest friends, on Metro and almost 2 million on the
Mall. All I can say is WHAT A DAY!! Gail got a friend of hers to
drop us off at Vienna Metro about 6 - it was taking over an hour to get in to
park. Then we walked 4 blocks to the end of the line to get into the
station. That took an hour. Luckily Gail got us round trip inaugural
tickets yesterday so we bypassed the gates. We got on a train and stood
like sardines (do they stand?) or cattle for and hour and a half getting into
DC. While we rode, announcements kept coming of what stations were closed
because of crowding. We got off at Capitol South and began to follow the
signs and crowds to the Silver ticket standing area. We walked over a mile
to find the end of the line - it wound around many buildings, down many streets,
and ended up at the Air and Space Museum. The line didn't move until 10:00
when they opened the gates. It took us a half hour to get to security
checkpoints. Then once on the mall, we wanted to find a place where we
could see both the capitol and the jumbotron. Gail is very short, so that
was a task. We moved about 10 times until she could see - and it
wasn't easy to move - you were shoulder to shoulder with all the others.
The crowd was amazing - friendly, upbeat, bundled
up and huddling together to keep warm - some had been there since 5. There
was an hour concert and then it all began. We heard later that the people
with seats never got past the checkpoint and never got to use their tickets -
had to join everyone else on the streets. It was fun watching all the
dignitaries come onto the screen, and people cheered or booed accordingly.
It was exciting to see the car approach and then Obama get out, amidst flag
waving and cheers of OBAMA! and USA! I thought he gave an excellent
speech, and when it was over, we headed with 1000's of others toward the Metro
stop. While waiting to move, we heard the helicopter carrying George and
Laura Bush go overhead. When we got to the Metro, we were told it was
closed until 2 or 4, so we hoofed it to the next one, about 5 blocks away.
When we got there, the line went for blocks again. We were told one had a
10 block back-up 4 deep. But with our round trip tickets we could go
through the far side and ran down to jump on the first train - and got
seats! It only took 45 minutes to get home. Gail called another
friend to pick us up and we went to her house to watch the parade, which was
just starting, and hour and a half late. Part of that delay was Teddy
Kennedy having a seizure during the luncheon, and part was just getting
everybody to the viewing stand before the Obama's came. We watched him
walk past the crowd, and they went right by where we had been standing, although
you had to be there early to be able to stand there.
I fell asleep watching the parade and woke up to
see the last half of it. I took a lot of pictures, but the sun was at the
wrong angle for some, and people were in the way for most. We were just
glad to have been a part of that momentous occasion, the largest crowd in DC
history, and the largest for an inauguration. People we met today were
from everywhere - it was really neat. It was really encouraging and
hopeful to see how many people could be together and be so cold, yet
joyful. There were no arrests today - that is amazing.
One funny thing - we left the mall and tried to get
out of the gated area, but it was blocked. (Maybe closed by security until
the dignitaries could go by.) So someone pushed the fence apart and people
started to file out in the garden behind the American Indian Museum. There
was a wall to climb up and a guy helped me up, then we were trapped again by
another fence. A guy lifted it out of the cement blocks and we all had to
crawl under it on our hands and knees while people held it up for each
other. We all felt like escapees or crossing the border illegally.
But at least we got out.
It was quite a day, and we are glad we went.
I will not forget it. Sandy, I never heard my phone. Just got your
message. I used the radio you had given me to find out which Metro
stations were open. Thanks.
Love, Ginger
Love, Ginger
Knowing Ginger as I do, any outward evidence of crowd induced frustration was probably limited to a couple "This is ridiculous" type comments. And then she didn't think twice about climbing a wall or crawling underneath a fence. Way to go Ginger!
This is Ginger with Jenna Claire at the Wilson County (TN) Fair this past summer:
