Inauguration: Homecoming Weekend for GW Alumni

I found myself pretty busy with work and school applications in 2012 so I plan to make up for it this year by travelling A LOT. A little glimpse into my plans, my trips will include Nashville, Chicago (again!), Rio Di Janiero, Buenos Aires, and Charlotte.

This weekend starts the travelling bonanza in a place I used to call home for four years, Washington D.C.  I will be travelling to D.C. to attend the second Inauguration of Obama. Being there the first time, you'd think I wouldn't need to go for round two, but alas, it is not really the actual Inauguration that I'm going for (sorry Barack). 

Inauguration weekend is to D.C. what Mardi Gras is to New Orleans, minus the beads and the flashing people.   Bars stay opened until 4 or 5 am. People wander around outside the monuments hoping to attend  free concerts that feature artists like Beyonce. There's Inaugural Balls all over the city where people get dressed up in prom attire and dance the night away. When I went to GW, four years ago (wow I'm getting old), our Inaugural ball was at the Omni Shoreham and was made up of various rooms with a different themed ambiance in every room. There was a DJ playing top 40 hits in a room with strobe lights, a Frank Sinatra band in an exquisite ballroom, a casual folk band in a room with vegetable crudites and pigs in a blanket...  And for GW students, this experience is what I imagine homecoming football games must be like to Boston College or University of Texas. Politics was our home-sport and we got to watch the first string politicians play every day.

Here's some pictures of Inauguration from January 2009.

Waiting for the Inauguration Concert to commence

It was so cold that day, the reflecting pool was frozen

Attentive crowd freezing their butts off on Inauguration Day January 2009 

I wish I had a picture of Obama to place with these pictures but from where I was standing he was not even visible except on the mega-screen. The millions of people that got there at 5 am. were all miles in front of me blocking my view. Not even to see the president sworn in will I get up that early. I did have some great company Inauguration weekend...

The Single Ladies

I will be spending Inauguration with the same trio of "single ladies" from four years ago. Sometimes I get nostalgic looking at these photos, and then I notice the ugly green gloves and white hat I'm wearing and the nostalgia fades.