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Krissy and I flew out for the Inauguration last week in DC and spent the week with the Frillicis.  We had an amazing time and it was definitely a life changing experience.  It was awesome to spend some much time with Vince, Chris and Willa and it is always great to reconnect with such good friends.  We got in late on Sunday and didn’t start our festivities until Monday.  We had lunch with The Oginskys (they were also in town and brought the whole family) at Buca and it was great to see all of them.  Monday afternoon we spent the day down by the Capitol meeting with folks over at Chris Dodd’s office and hanging out with all the people getting tickets for the big day.  You have to go to a Congressman’s office to get the tickets so we met a lot of really interesting people.  We had dinner at a great Asian Restaurant (Meiweh) and then Kris and I wondered around the Capitol Mall.  We hiked around the monument to the States and the Lincoln Memorial.  There were still a bunch of people out there the night before.

Tuesday we got up early and starting the mad rush to the Capitol.  We scored better tickets (Purple) which ended up making it harder to get in.  Folks in other sections found their way into Purple so it slowed down the entrance into that area.  We tried to get in line but it ended up being over a mile long through a tunnel under the capitol.  There is a lot online about the Purple Gate Fiasco so I won’t rehash it here (google it).  Needless to say we waited 3 hours in line and got turned away a block from the gate at 11:20.  We hung around to see if they were going to reopen it and got word that another gate was an option.  We headed that way and then they announced they were going to reopen the Purple gate.  While this was happening a guy proposed to his girlfriend right by us.  Long story short we ended up getting in around 11:55-12:00 into the Capitol grounds.  We almost got squashed in the process but made it through.  Krissy found a way into Yellow from our area and we ended up with a great place to view the inauguration.

The speech was very moving for the folks gathered and it really felt like we were a part of something very different.  When it was over we were able to move up to the front of Yellow and hung out for awhile as people slowly started to move away.  Unfortunately words can’t describe the feelings and emotions that were part of the experience but all the hassle, waiting in line and uncertainty we faced getting in was quickly forgotten.  We left there feeling like we were part of something special.  We headed over to the Carlisle Group to hook up with Vince so we could watch the parade from there.  We met Rep Travis Childers from Mississippi along with his family and shared with them my Mississippi roots.  Great guy and his family was a lot of fun to hang out with.  From there we went home and got all ready for the Blue Ball.  I brought a tux and Krissy looked amazing in the dress she brought for the night.  We went to the ball and got to meet a lot more of the people Vince knew and worked with throughout his career in DC.

We were up late that night and Krissy flew out first thing in the morning on Wed.  She was going to get back and get the kids back from school.  They were great while we were gone and had a lot of fun playing with Aunt Shari and Brigid.  I stayed on a few days to meet with some business contacts and tried to create some more contacts for Riverturn.  I left on Thursday night back to TC to get back to the family.  All in all it was a great trip and we got to meet some amazing people.  Even in all the lines, etc everyone was very patient and just living in the moment.  We were very lucky to be able to experience all of it and can’t begin to thank Chris and Vince for all they did.  They opened their home to us and we got to share a great part of their life.  Willa is an amazing daughter and they are two great parents to her.

I was glad to get back home and made the most of it with the kids.  We have started doing some science experiements around the house and they are really getting into it.  It is really interesting to see how they react to the things we take for granted every day.  I forget that they are only 5 and just starting to understand these things so all we can do is keep encouraging them to pursue what they love.  We got lucky with the two of them and just hope we can help them enjoy being kids.

Hope everyone is doing well and we will post some photos of the inauguration shortly in the photos page.  Take care..pk

Filed under: pk on January 28th, 2009