Adam had already been there for a day and after I landed I joined him and some of his colleagues for a delicious dinner at The Oceanaire, DC's top seafood restaurant. It did not disappoint. Our waiter was phenomenal and I tasted oysters for the first time in my life. Yes, my spirit of adventure was alive and well!
The next day we rose early with the throngs of people and headed into town. The metro was crowded, but not unbearable, and we got off at Capitol South and headed for the "blue gate," as directed on our tickets. We had the somewhat coveted blue tickets, which are equal to the purple tickets, not as good as the orange and yellow tickets, but much better than the silver tickets and of course, much, much better than having no ticket at all. Or so we thought...
I should note that Adam and I have been to three inaugurations in the past. As much as this one was expected to have many more people, theoretically the ticket process should be the same. Previous inaugurations have the same number of tickets available. Certainly the blue and purple tickets have always all been given away. The main difference for this one was the large, unticketed area on the mall. Still, we got there particularly early and got in line.
And there we stood. With so many others. People were patient and jovial, but it was strange that the line barely moved. Nobody quite knew what was going on. Certainly the DC police didn't know, nor did the additional hired security, or the inauguration volunteers. But still, we waited. With several hours to go before the festivities were to begin, I guess that we all felt okay with the slow-moving lines. That, and the fact that there wasn't really anywhere else to go.
This went on and on. Eventually, people started getting frustrated. Some started cutting in line, which made others upset. Rumors spread about a power outage with the security equipment, an injury in line, a death... Nobody knew.
At 11am, a half hour before the ceremony was to begin, we began to accept the reality that this really wasn't looking good. Someone who was leaving the line told us that he had been where we were two hours prior and he never came close to getting in. Adam and I decided that we'd rather watch the inauguration from somewhere than continue to wait in this line to nowhere, especially as the large crowds were certainly going to become rowdier.
So we left and went to a house a few blocks away, right across the street from one of the Capitol buildings, that Adam and his colleagues had secured as a back-up location and a place to go during what was sure to be a hectic day. What a smart husband I have! This house had a plasma TV, an open bar, a tasty spread of food and best of all, it was WARM. So that's where we saw the swearing-in.
Yes, it was disappointing, but I went into it with the attitude that there was going to be a lot of uncertainty, so I can't say that I was completely shocked. I was extremely grateful that we got to see it, and I took some pleasure in knowing that I was physically closer to the action than the vast majority of people on the mall. I felt like we experienced the crowd and craziness, if not for the ceremony itself. I feel bad for the many people who didn't see anything and instead just waited in vain in that ridiculous "line."
Turns out, there were thousands of people like us. The Washington Post wrote an article about it (they were still trying to figure out what was going on, but reasons ranged from a generator going out that powered the security equipment, to people wearing bulky clothes b/c of the cold, so not as many people could fit (yeah, right...), to crowd management issues, etc.) Some purple ticket holders got stuck for hours in the 3rd Street Tunnel, which seriously sounds dreadful. There's even a facebook group called "Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom" that has more than 4600 members in it!
After the swearing-in we hung out in the house for an hour or so, waiting for the crowds to dissipate a bit. Some of Adam's colleagues who were able to witness the ceremony in person joined those of us who did not, and we swapped stories.
Later, we headed out to a TechNet reception. We tried to meet the car service, but the driver had no way of getting anywhere near us. The crowds were massive and streets were blocked off right and left. We ended up walking the 2.5 miles, which was fine, albeit freezing. We walked past many entrepreneurs hawking everything from Obama puppets to "official" inaugural water bottles. "Completely refillable! Just keep the cap!"
The reception was on the roof of the Hay Adam's hotel, which is across the street from the White House. We had an awesome birds eye view of the parade route and when the new President and his family arrived, we got to see them emerge from their car and walk to the viewing stand.
Later, we went to the Symantec offices to change into our formal wear and then went to a dinner at Equinox, which happened to be where Barack had taken Michelle for a birthday dinner a few nights before. The dinner was fun, but we had to cut out early to get to our BALL.
We had tickets to the Creative Coalition Ball (a.k.a. "Hollywood Ball) held at the Harmon Center for the Arts. It was not one of the official balls that the President would visit, but it was a hot ticket nonetheless. My friend Michele, who had also come from California for the inauguration, joined us and to add to the fun, it was her birthday.
When we first arrived we were mildly disappointed to see a sign that read the following:
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Guests have access to the following areas based on the color of their wristbands:
Gold -- VIP areas and concert hall
Silver -- concert hall but NOT the VIP areas
Blue -- VIP areas but NOT the concert hall
Red -- general areas only
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We had blue wristbands.
Yes, it was cool to get to go to the "VIP areas," but where do you think all of the Hollywood VIPs were during the concert? Right... We were hanging out, watching the movie stars emerge and walk straight to the concert. Yes, it was fun to see Susan Sarandon, the "girl from ER," Marissa Tomei, Star Jones Reynolds and others up close and personal, but we felt like dorks gawking at them as they made their way from the press area to the concert. At one point I said "Adam! Get the camera!" as I nudged to show him who was arriving. Adam just looks at me and says "Who's that?" as Sting walks right past us. Oh well.
Just as we were starting to accept our fate, who should walk through from the movie star entrance but Geoff, a lobbyist with a reputation for getting access to whoever and wherever he wants. We tell him about the blue wristband situation and he quickly goes through the rolodex in his brain of who he knows who has influence at the party and he goes off. Within moments, he emerges with a pocket filled with gold wristbands.... enough for all of us!
Needless to say, we were thrilled. We walk through the concert doors and find ourselves in an intimate concert hall just as Elvis Costello is playing an acoustic version of "Allison" (yes, I realize that he spells it the wrong way, which is why I'm correcting him here.) It was awesome. When Elvis Costello finished there was an intermission, which we spent in the VIP lounge hanging out with the likes of Magic Johnson, Samuel L Jackson and Anne Hathaway. Michele, knowing that I am a geek for stars, asks Anne Hathaway if she'll take a picture with me. Anne agrees and Michele fumbles around with the camera, to the point where Anne actually has to show her how to turn it on. It was quite embarrassing for both Michele and me. Anne was nice about it, and chatted with us for a bit about the inauguration and how excited she was about the day.
When the intermission ended, we went back into the concert hall where they started with a little program where each of the stars -- there were about 25 of them -- took turns reading an inspiring quote. It was neat. They were dressed beautifully wearing gowns that might show up in People magazine. Then the stars sat in chairs on the stage and Sam Moore came on to sing. In case you don't know (I didn't), Sam Moore used to be part of a duet, Sam & Dave, and Soul Man was probably their most famous song. Anyway, I stepped out during part of his performance to check in with the girls at home. As I was heading back into the show who should show up was Geoff (see above) asking if we'd like to meet the Grateful Dead. Now, I'm no Deadhead, but of course I said "yes!"
So I got Adam and Michele out of the show as Geoff was on the phone with Bob Weir, giving him directions to where we were. Geoff then goes to work arranging for the Dead members to jam on stage with Sting and Elvis Costello. Too funny.
Anyway, after a while we start to realize that five minutes in Dead time could be a while, and in the meantime we're missing the show. So Geoff says to Sting's people: "Can you at least bring these guys backstage?" pointing to us. She says "sure" and the next thing you know, we're standing ten feet away from Sting as he sings "Every Breath You Take." It was unreal.
Matthew Modine was right next to me, and at one point actually asked me if I thought that people "got" his speech/quote reading earlier. I assured him that he did a great job and that I was certain that people understood the connection that he made between his experience getting a girl in bed in high school and Obama's election. True story.
At the end of the show, Elvis Costello and Sam Moore came out and sang "You Are So Beautiful" with Sting. We were on stage with the various starlets and, suffice it to say, it was quite a scene. Geoff then takes us backstage where the performers were hanging out. We met Elvis Costello and I told him that my name is "Allison" just like his song. Shocking as it may sound, I don't think he was impressed.
The whole experience was completely surreal, but obviously a lot of fun. We ended the night with an after-party at Chi Cha lounge and rolled into our hotel at about 4am.
The next afternoon we flew home. Adam travelled via private jet and I flew commercial, economy, in the back row, center seat in between two large men. When I spoke with Adam just before takeoff and I told him about my seat he actually said (as he was sitting on the private jet): "Well, at least you're near the bathroom!" How's that for always looking on the bright side?
The flight was probably a good way to help me adjust to my normal, non-glamorous life. As corny as it may sound, though, I'm happy with my relatively slow-paced, glamour-free life. Poor Anne, who has to spend hours each day making sure that she looks perfect for all of the eyes and cameras that are on her, having to deal with strangers like me wanting her picture, discovering that her boyfriend is a scam artist while all of the world is watching. I got to come home with my sweet husband to squeals of delight from three darling girls. Not so bad.
