Photos of the Inauguration of Barack Obama by David and Laura Floyd, January 18-20, 2009.
Click here for David's Flickr album
1. Traffic started getting heavy outside of Alexandria on the 18th.
2. How cold was it? This is the Potomac, taken from the train on the 14th Street bridge.
3. We arrived on the National Mall as a huge crowd was leaving the free concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
4.
5.
6.
7. We tried to get up to Lincoln but he was blocked off.
8.
9. The White House on Bush's second-to-last day. I heard people threw shoes at the front gate.
10. Waiting in line outside the Cannon House Office Building for our tickets, along with 1/4 million other people.
11.
12. Congressman John Lewis (center) came out to retrieve his guests. Paul Broun left us out in the cold.
14. Ticket-holders showed no shame about cutting in line, and I'm clearly getting fed up - plus my feet were frozen after about two hours waiting. Miranda chats with her friend back in Georgia.
15. Finally got the tickets.
16. We visited the Air and Space Museum that afternoon - this is the Gemini IV capsule.
17.
18.
19. The highlight of the trip!
20. We came across some parade floats being readied for the next day.
21.
22. Tired at the end of the day.
23. Early morning at King St. Station.
24. A huge crowd arriving at l'Enfant Station - we didn't know what we were in for...
25. David found a spot out on the mall while Miranda and I waited in line with other ticket-holders to get through the security gate.
26.
27. First glimpse of Obama. YouTube video: Cheering crowd on the mall
28.
29. YouTube video: Crowd boos Bush
30. Miranda and I reached the security gate at 10:50, but were told there was almost no chance we'd get in. We left to try and find David, but didn't make it. We climbed through a barrier so we could stand with these people near the portolets to listen to the swearing in and Obama's speech.
31. I could just see the crowd near the Washington Monument.
32. The people around me were so excited and relieved and grateful to just be there and be a part of the event that I had to forget being angry about my damn tickets.
33. A tiny fraction of the crowd attempting to make their way home.
34. We were stuck again in l'Enfant Station - this time for three hours in a narrow hallway under the hotel. People were passing out from the stifling heat, about one every 15 minutes; but every time someone collapsed, people passed water and fanned the victim and got help (though no one's cell phone worked down there under the building). When a grandmother lost her grandchild, word circulated around the crowd until the child was found and returned to her. When the cops wouldn't open the fire doors to let air in, or let us out, people sang "The Star Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America," and somehow we finally got through it. I think it's a testament to the good will we all felt that there were 1.8 million people out there that day and not one arrest. YouTube videos: l'Enfant bottleneck, cops direct crowd to the Metro
