Greetings from Washington, DC, DUers!!

Just a very quick dispatch because I'm finally back at the hotel and I am utterly exhausted.

As a Blue Standing Area ticket holder, I was so excited to make my way into the district this morning. Such immense crowds (I was near Union Station), such smiling faces, such elation from all!

The signage from Union Station was poor, but we finally made our way to the security checkpoint for the Blue ticket holders, at Washington Avenue near 1st Street. It was about 8:30 when we arrived there. In a huge crush of people, we waited. And waited. And waited. The line barely crawled, and by 10:30 we became understandably concerned that we were so delayed getting into our area on the Capitol lawn.

And fifteen more minutes passed. Fifteen after that. It's now 11:00 and there are thousands of people ahead of us. We know in our hearts there is no possibility we will witness this historic moment, after all. The disappointment was overwhelming, but more so to others who grew even more impatient. Suddenly, the line turned into something of a mob scene, with half of the crowd moving to merge in with the others far ahead of us in line. There was an immense crush of people. It was all we could do to move sideways and avoid getting swept up in the wave. At that moment it was a relief to get out of the relative madness, but, and I'm sure anyone here could understand this, it was crushing to know that I would not witness this historic moment, after months of anticipation, after all.

Walking back toward Union Station, the cannons were fired and everyone on the street knew Obama had just become President. I started crying, and so did so many around me. The dejected ticket holders started their own little party on D Street, and although it wasn't what I had expected, it was still a wonderful moment. My Inauguration Moment. Hugging strangers in absolute joy as the 21 gun salute went off!!

Later, we made our way to the Dubliner to watch Bush leave Washington. What a fun party that was!! A packed bar of people singing the "Na Na Hey Hey" song, and hissing at Cheney in the wheelchair. Seeing those televisions was my first glimpse of any of the events of the day.

I'll write more later, it but that's it in a nutshell. It was still a beautiful day; this is so much bigger than I am and I appreciate that. I'm utterly exhausted after a crazy day, and am finally settled in the hotel room to watch some coverage on TV.

So... did I miss anything?