Inauguration Kickoff

We made our way via bus and Metro, to the National mall yesterday. First stop was the Longworth Building, where many of our Congressional Representative have their offices. We found our way to the office of Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva where my brother and sister-in-law (Tom & Mary) picked up their tickets to the Inauguration. For John and me it was our first opportunity to walk through the halls of Congress, seeing familiar names on many of the doors.

Lunch at the American Indian Museum fortified us (and provided antifreeze) for our long walk to the far end of the mall, the Lincoln Memorial, where the We Are One concert was held.

What an event!  Half a million people, each one thrilled to be there for this celebration.  Smiles, tears, hugs - and a pretty good show, too!  People were hanging on every word, silent and respectful when appropriate and joyous, singing and dancing at other times.  

Since our President elect is named O'Bama, clearly he must be Irish, so our little party of four has made it a goal to get to as many Irish bars as possible during these four days!  After the concert we walked a couple of miles to the Dubliner, and did our best to celebrate for all of you who couldn't be here with us.

Now, we're off to RFK stadium, where we volunteered to come help pack care packages to be sent to the military.  And then another Irish pub this evening...

More soon...