Day One of Our Trip: Sunday

Well hello everyone. Tom here. Welcome to our blog tracking our trip to witness history!

It all began early in the morning Sunday, January 18th, 2009. We left Burlington International Airport at 6:30AM (way too early for a Sunday morning if you're a college student) and arrived in DC around 10:00. Upon our arrival at Union Station we met up with a friend of mine named Ara, who I met during the semester I spent in DC at year ago. We also got to meet up with an old friend, Barack Obama. Ok, Ok. It was actually a cut out, but doesn't he look life like?

Next we dropped off our luggage at another DC friend of mine, Brittney. After this we proceeded to the "We are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial with Ara and her mother. By the time we got there a large crowd had already formed and was back as far as the WWII Memorial. We passed through our first security checkpoint of Inaugural weekend and scoped out the best vantage point. That was a fairly difficult task as half of our group was height challanged (sorry Ara, but you know it's true). After a few minutes of walking through the crowd, we found our spot, about halfway back from the Lincoln Memorial, and on the left of the Reflecting Pool.

Danielle and I at the "We Are One" Concert

After about two hours of waiting, the show began and President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden made their way down the vast stone steps of the monument to their VIP viewing box, which appeared to be surrounded in what I imagine to be bulletproof glass. As the show began there was some technical difficulties with sound but after a couple minutes we could hear the music and the speakers.

In case you were not glued to your TV Sunday afternoon, each musical act was followed by a speaker. We saw musicians like James Taylor, Usher, "The Boss", Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Bliege, Garth Brooks, and U2. We heard patriotic readings from Samuel L. Jackson (he's everywhere!), Steve Carrell, George Lopez, Tom Hanks, Laura Linney, Martin Luther King III (who's apparently coming to UVM!), Joe Biden, and of course the man himself, Barack Obama.

Bruce Springsteen kicked off the concert

Usher took the stage with Stevie Wonder


Colin, this one's for you!

The reason why thousands crowded the National Mall

The mass of people all the way to the Washington Monument

The capitol on our way back from the concert

After the concert we made our way back past the capitol to have dinner with Ara and her Mom at a delicious Indian restuarant, the White Tiger. And who would have thought that we would also see Bernie Sanders there as well.

It was a great day and made us very excited for what Tuesday will bring!