From Swearing-In to Parade: Tales from the Road
By now we've received dozens of tips and reports from readers as they made their way away from the National Mall. Some people told us about how they never made it inside an area where they had tickets—both at the Swearing-In and along the parade route. Others expressed relief at having had an easier time than they expected. There was word of pushing and shoving as crowds trying to leave the National Mall at 14th Street were crushed together. And there was tale of incredible kindness and good spirits as strangers tried to help each other find their way out of the throng.
We'll be updating this post with travel tales from our staff as they find their way back home. Add your stories in the comments.
From my spot on the Southwest lawn of the Capitol in the orange seated section, leaving the ceremony was a breeze. We left as soon as Obama's speech ended, as did much of the crowd. The mood all day was light and happy; despite the cold and the many opportunities for inconvenience, everyone was in high spirits and nobody let the mob mentality take over. As we exited the orange gate, all walkways were open to people leaving and everyone just moved along quickly. There were more officials (marines, special police, national guard) monitoring the exit than there were monitoring the entrance to the ceremony. But it made for a smooth walk up North Capitol and home. Friends have been twittering about very different experiences leaving the mall -- dangerous levels of pushing, people running across the tops of the port-a-potties. But I didn't see any of that leaving the Capitol.
One thing: while I commend the efforts of the National Guard and DDOT and Special Police representatives around the city to aid with inauguration crowds, the city should have really told them a thing or two about... the city. I saw at least a dozen people ask these folks for help ("where's the nearest Metro?", "which buses go to the Capitol?", "how do we get to the Mall?"), and not once did any of these official representatives know the answer. Would pointing them in the direction of a map prior to sending them to their posts been too hard? All in all though, it was a smooth and well-organized experience on my end, especially considering the sheer number of people. - Amanda Mattos
We walked from the Lincoln Memorial, up 19th Street, and then cut over to 14th Street to catch the 54 bus around K Street. Traffic was no problem. Several Metrobuses were idling and pulling out quickly, and local folks seemed pleasantly surprised things went so smoothly. - Shauna Miller
We walked down Connecticut from Woodley Park, and it was easy. No crowds until we hit H Street. Walked with large crowds down 18th Street to the Mall. We got as far as the Washington Monument and were surrounded by people. Very diverse group around us, in a very celebratory mood. The video could be seen from blocks away, and the audio carried fairly well, despite the delay in sound. Getting out was a little slower, but everyone was behaving well. No pushing. Walked back the same route, and it was slow moving at times, but flowed well. - Meaghan Gay
After the ceremony ended, thousands of people streamed down Pennsylvania Ave. SE, walking toward the Eastern Market Metro station or other locations. Prices for Obama T-shirts and buttons immediately dropped -- buttons from $5 apiece to $2 apiece. Vendors were constantly yelling "two dolla holla" and helping each other out with making change. Someone left their cell phone on a vendor's table, and the vendor immediately started yelling that he found a Sprint phone, whose was it, etc. The guy came back, grabbed the phone and then bought two buttons and gave the vendor a generous tip.
Pennsylvania Ave. stayed closed to traffic except for local traffic, and lots of people abandoned the sidewalks to walk on the street because the sidewalks were overcrowded. There were lines out the door of pretty much every Pennsylvania Ave. SE eatery and bar, as hungry and thirsty inauguration goers tried to finally get something to eat or drink. The mood was largely calm, celebratory and helpful, with people giving others tips for where to go to the bathroom, picking up each others' lost scarves or gloves and talking to each other while standing on line. I didn't encounter any issues exiting the area on foot in the Southeast direction. - Rebecca Cooper
My road to the inauguration was entirely on foot. I walked from home (a block or so north of Lincoln Park) and ended up on the south side of the Rayburn House Office Building, where I joined a group of people listening to Obama's speech on the radio. After the speech, I slowly started making my way back and met up with crowds of people headed east on Independence Avenue. The street was lined with charter buses on either side. The crowd split at Independence and Pennsylvania Avenue, and both streets seemed to flow smoothly despite the clots that formed around peddlers hawking their Obama-related wares.- Fredo Alvarez
I rode my bike from Mt. Pleasant to the south end of the Mall, which required riding beyond and around the Capitol in both directions. It was an easy ride on the way down, though a little dicey on the way back because of the sheer number of people fleeing the Mall in every possible direction. Every Metro station I rode by was packed, with especially long lines outside Union Station. - Martin Austermuhle
We watched from between the Monument and 15th Street. As we walked away, back towards 17th Street, the crowd was packed tight and came to a standstill as no one realized that the way was blocked by a row of port-o-potties. We found our way around, inching our way to Constitution Avenue, and it opened up briefly until we turned up 18th Street and hit human gridlock again. It was slow going, but things started moving somewhere around Eye Street. From there up to Adams Morgan, it was smooth sailing. Despite the massive crush of people along much of the route, everyone was very mellow and cool about it. No shoving, no impatience, not even any grumbling. - Ian Buckwalter
I stalked around the Mall for a while, hoping to find a way to sneak onto the parade route. That effort being fruitless, we headed east through the L'Enfant intersection towards the Hill exit -- winding past train tracks, crawling under a cutout hole to cross the 395 expressway, and hopping over guardrails before reaching a state of freedom that didn't come until the Library of Congress. Good luck getting a bite or coffee on Pennsylvania Avenue, but get your t-shirts, 2 for 1! - Josh Novikoff
We attempted to take the 12th Street exit south and stood there for a long long time -- nobody actually let the crowd of people know whether to turn around or whether we'd be moving in the near future. Probably an hour later, someone in a military uniform turned us around and we entered Independence Avenue somewhere around 11th Street. (At least my feet were no longer frozen.) We then took the grand circle route, walking to 6th Street, then going down to E Street SW and slowly making our way back north, hitting Independence Avenue again once we got east of the Capitol. Best sighting along the way home: an ambulance made its way down Independence soon after we got off the Mall. Immediately, a group of people started sprinting after it since they now had a clear path on the street. - Valerie Paschall
I watched the inauguration from the Monument Grounds on a JumboTron. I exited the mall by 17th Street, cut up by Constitution Hall, then over to 18th Street, and then walked up to New Hampshire Avenue and on to U Street. The slowest part of the trip was getting out of the Mall itself. 18th Street was also pretty slow between E through K street, but then things sped up considerably. One of the biggest obstacles were tchotchke tables set up in the middle of the street. - Sriram Gopal
Upon deciding that our early parade effort was painful and fruitless, we headed to RFD for a beer, some food, and a large TV, all at 9 a.m. Post-inauguration, we easily hopped onto the Green Line at Gallery Place, which was not yet too crowded. U Street was quite significantly less crowded and less raucous than it was last night as I was trying to sleep. An easy zip home and then off to a party in Petworth. - Lynne Venart
I just got back. I watched the ceremony on a Jumbotron north-west of the Washington Monument. We were penned in on the Mall for close to an hour after President Obama (!) took the oath, waiting to cross Constitution Ave. We walked north up 18th Street and the foot traffic was elbow-to-elbow like the start of a marathon as far north as H Street, when a big group diverted to the east. There was a very enterprising merch-vendor on the corner of 18th and I selling all kinds of souvenirs, the best of which was the Obama Waiter ($2 per bottle), with the President's photo on the bottle.
Potential Customer: "Aw, no! You got Obama water?"
Vendor: "It'll make you so damn articulate, you won't know what to do with yourself."
PC: "That better not be Poland Spring!"Anyway, we continued walking north up 18th to K Street, making much faster progress than we had south of H Street, then cut east to 14th Street and caught a bus just north of Thomas Circle. The bus was virtually empty, but it had filled up by the time we got up to Studio Theatre at 14th and P. - Chris Klimek
I left by way of 7th Street. I walked to 14th Street and walked up a ways and caught the 54 up to 14th and Florida. It was distressingly easy to go home. - Kriston Capps