My sister and I had the privilege of attending the 2005 Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C., and the photo below was taken, as we waited outside the U.S. Capitol, for the swearing in ceremony, which was held on a very cold and snowy, January 20. One can see the top of the Capitol in the upper right hand corner of the photo. Needless to say, we were quite a distance from the large platform that held the dignitaries, but there were electronic loud speakers around the lawn, that enabled us to hear what was being said, and we had binoculars!
Helpers were distributing pocket size copies of the US Constitution to people who were waiting out in the cold for the ceremony to begin:I bought a sweatshirt because it was so cold!
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Souvenir from DC sports bar, where we met up with the government official, originally from Arkansas, who had secured special event tickets for us. This official, early in his political career, had worked with Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt, from my home town of Harrison, Arkansas. As luck would have it, my sister and I ran into the Congressman and his wife at the airport in Washington, D.C., and they graciously invited us to be his guest in the special VIP lounge available at the airport that weekend. What a treat!
Our ability to have bleacher seats for the parade, and to have an invitation to attend one of the Inaugural balls was made possible because of a friend who was a government official, living in Washington, that I had known since my days at the University of Arkansas. His name was Jim Burnett, from Clinton, Arkansas. At the time, he was serving as the Chairman of the U.S. Board of Transportation Safety. I am very thankful to him, because this experience gave me "MILES OF SMILES"! Tricia
ADDENDUM: Additional tips for attending a Presidential Inauguration are given in a blog I published in January 2009, which you can find in the Archives of this blog.
