After a long night of meeting up with old college friends, I woke up the next morning at 4:45am in Columbia Heights. In the complete darkness of early morning, our “silver” inauguration tickets in hand, we trekked through the streets to catch the metro to go to L’Enfant Plaza, wearing the multiple layers of clothing required to withstand a “typical” chilly January day in DC. Unfortunately this meant the weather was anything but warm.
Arriving at the station, I was overwhelmed by the crowds of people trying to get through. This sea of humanity reminded me of those old elementary school fire drills: no one caused any trouble, no one was getting hassled, and everyone--for the most part--filed into the station in an orderly fashion. And the metro car wasn’t that packed either, at least compared to the typical morning BART commute in SF. Aside from the abrasive and the ungodly hour of the day, it was apparent that everyone was transfixed on this important event in American history, possibly one of the most significant events that would happen in each of our lives.
When we got off the metro, we quickly found one of the lines that was going to lead to the silver ticket area in the mall. But first, we had to wait until they opened the gates at 8am, and it was only 6am at this point. Being a native Californian, trying to beat the cold was like an uphill battle, so my friends and I resorted to dancing and jumping around to stay warm. When 8am rolled around, we finally were able to move toward the gate entrance to the mall.
After waiting in line for what felt like a really long time, we held up our tickets and moved along with the crowd toward the gate, reaching the security checkpoint to get into the mall. We staked out our spot near the first Jumbotron on the right side of the Mall facing the Capitol. While we initially felt so far away from the actual ceremony, we realized looking back at the Washington monument that we were actually pretty close compared to most of the crowd, as we were standing just in front of the reflection pool. The air and the wind were so cold that everyone around us struggled to stay warm. I knew a few friends were nearby, but with the cell signals overloaded, and the Wi-Fi service completely crippled, I ruled out any thought of trying to get in touch with them, figuring I would just catch up with them later. Even with three more hours left until the inaugural ceremony started, the only thing on our minds at the time was to stay warm.
As we waited, we chatted with other inauguration-attendees, and had a bit of food and a little water. Finally, the ceremony began. It seemed surreal to be there…that this moment was unfolding right before my eyes…and knowing it was being watched by people all around the world. It felt like a grand privilege to be able to experience it in-person. Despite the cold, everyone’s attention was completely fixed on the ceremony, with many people using their phones and cameras to capture the event. I tried taking a photo with my phone to send to a friend in California, but there was no reliable cell or Wi-Fi signal to be found, and nowhere to move to find any coverage. At one point, I had found some random Wi-Fi hotspot, but even that seemed to be overloaded, as well, as my phone kept getting disconnected. After a few tries, I decided to give up and just relish the historic moment instead.
When the ceremony ended, we now faced what turned out to be the single greatest challenge of the trip: evacuating the mall. No one had any idea how to get out…the metro had ceased running, and there were barricades everywhere near the Capitol for security purposes. With cell and Wi-Fi signals still overloaded and/or unresponsive, it was nearly impossible to figure out how to leave the Mall. By the time we figured it out (after speaking with some SWAT officer), it took my friends and I upwards of 3 hours to walk downtown to the Human Rights Campaign, where we had planned to meet with some other friends. I kept hoping that eventually we would be able to use our phones to get in contact with other people, but my hopes and prayers had to have fallen on deaf ears. That is, until about 10pm that night when I finally received a reliable signal along with 8 texts, 4 voicemails, and 4 missed calls, most of which were sent to me earlier in the day from friends back in California asking me how everything was in DC. Oh, how I wish I could’ve told them what it was like “in the moment.” By the time I was able to respond, I was already way too tired to even mutter any sort of excitement about it.
However, I was glad I was able to get in some quality photos of such an historic event. Being a close follower of politics, I know I will cherish the experience and these photos for as long as I live.
