ulitave

First, we took the train from Bethesda (where we're staying) into D.C., then walked for about 20 blocks. Most of the streets were closed to traffic - unless you were someone important enough to get a military escort. Then the streets were closed to all traffic and you zipped away. Every block had at least 8-10 street vendors selling Obama-themed memorabilia - hats, t-shirts, gloves, scarves, action figures, posters, stickers, magnets, buttons..just about anything. I eventually bought a poster, and I'll probably get some t-shirts and whatever else.

Just before we got to the Mall, right past the Red Cross Headquarters, we ran into a bunch of those "God Hates..." people.* There were about four of them, holding signs and screaming at anyone in earshot. They've branched out - now they hate "sports nuts" and "Mormons" as well as gays, lesbians, "baby killing women", and everyone else. Several gay couples posed for pictures. There were other - what's a good word for them - nuts out there, including some other street preachers and some group who wanted a "real" revolution. (Today's WaPo says that the sign guys were actually not a part of the infamous group. I don;t know if that's good or bad.)


Once we got to the Mall, we saw the security line for the area around the Reflecting Pool - four blocks long and not moving. We skipped the line and stood with the unsecured, unchecked masses on the lawn of the Washington Monument. The crowd was pretty lively and engaged, although we did sound lame applauding in our gloves. The whole feeling was very festival-concert-ish: a woman stood on her boyfriend's shoulders (to get pictures), and someone tossed a beach ball around. And no one smoked. That was the oddest thing - no one smoked at all. It wasn't banned or anything. Just no smokers in the crowd, at least none I could see.