I Think I Will Stay Home
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 11:06PM Living so close to Washington DC, it is very tempting to think about going to the Inauguration. The idea of seeing history live is very appealing. However, I hate crowds and this one appears as if it will be a doozy:
Planners are freaking out about what to do with an estimated 10,000 buses that will ferry people into the city for the ceremony (enough, if lined up end-to-end, to circle the entire Capital Beltway); there's nowhere to park them all, and not many good ways to get people from wherever they park to the inauguration. The folks who run the Metro system are basically just giving up -- they want anyone who's coming from less than two miles away to walk.
When public transportation officials start telling people not to take public transportation, you know things are getting weird. Washingtonians don't easily panic over crowds. It's not as if the city has never dealt with big events before; after all, these presidential inaugurations do happen, like clockwork, every four years, and no D.C. weekend goes by without at least a few streets closing for a protest march or a charity walk. Still, the Obama mania seems to be going well past anything the city has experienced before.
I figure that if I am going to wind up watching it on a big TV screen (which supposedly will be all along the mall) I might as well do it from the comfort of my own home. Where it is warm. And where I have a comfy couch to sit on. And where I don't have to share a bathroom. And where I can easily get access to food and hot chocolate.
Call me a wimp.
I figure that it will still be exciting being so close and watching the local news reports of the traffic tie ups and other chaos that I am sure will ensue. Right in my back yard. Can't wait!
Politics 
Reader Comments (2)
You couldn't pay me enough to go anywhere near D.C. the weekend of the inauguration! As you said, if we were there we'd probably only see Obama on a screen anyway. And the crowds and traffic would probably cause post-traumatic stress for weeks.
I have heard that it is going to be a little crazy around town. Both of my parents work downtown. I think that they might just stay home that day. :-)