The Streets of DC – Saturday edition

Friday afternoon as we returned from XM, we could feel the energy. Metro was getting more crowded by the minute, even early in the afternoon. Trader Joe’s was crowded, but the cashier promised they had ordered an overabundance of food for the descending crowds.

Saturday, we hung out in the neighborhood, going to the library, visiting with friends and standing in the longest Trader Joe’s line ever. The DC “Special Operations Division” station down the block had more police cars parked along the street than I had ever seen before. The streets were crowded with cars that moved just as slowly as I did, carrying a case of wine home from TJs. The Ritz next door had its fair share of black cars for hire and big black Cadillac SUVs pulling up. The flow of coach buses steadily increased.

In the evening on Saturday, Barbara and I walked Suze up to her friend’s apartment, then headed down towards the White House. As we walked past one street, we could see both ends of the block were blocked by police cars, so we decided to see what the excitement was. As we walked by The Mayflower Hotel, we saw a line of big, black SUVs with inauguration license plates. The driver/guard in a suit wouldn’t tell us who was there. After we walked past, we decided to go back and take a picture, but a cop jumped out of his car and told us to “Keep Moving!”

We kept walking down to the White House. There were people all around, taking it all in. The mood was upbeat, jubilation, happy. People were being quite friendly to one another, striking up conversations and sharing the moment together.

white house - 17 jan 2009

The parade viewing stands blocked the view of the White House. We chatted with a man who had just come from the Lincoln Monument where rehearsals for Sunday’s concerts were taking place.