Inauguration Follies

I am a native Northern Virginian and have been a part of Inauguration follies many, many times. I can assure you that there will be lots of people, no toilets, and plenty of cold to go around. If you are lucky, a snowstorm the likes you have never seen will blow through our nation's capitol this weekend.

I remember it was so cold during Ronald Reagan's second inauguration, he couldn't even be sworn in on the Capitol steps and they had to cancel the parade. Sure, there were lots of disappointed high school band kids, but, have you ever sat through a four hour parade? In the cold? And had to go to the bathroom? But I digress.

The craziest thing I've heard about this inauguration is the closing of the Virginia bridges going into and out of Washington. Excuse me? The inauguration planners may think they are keeping unwanted people and traffic (?) out of the city, but there are those who are beginning to panic about supplies getting in. Bread, meat, french fries, beer, wine, hotdogs, toilet paper, milk, eggs... you get the picture. From what I have gathered, the only way to get to Washington from Virginia is to go to Maryland. While possible, not pretty.

And while I love the METRO, do you really want to depend on that one subway system to ferry around the ton of people the inauguration committee is expecting? You couldn't pay me to be there for this one. But there is some beauty. PrincipalGirl's college roommate's brother and his friends are renting her house for the Inauguration. And paying her a pretty penny. Because in November, the closest hotel room they could find was in Pennsylvania. So this Obama thing seems to be working out for someone after all.