D.C., here we come!

I know this is way late... been catching up on life :)

Picked up the fam (Mom, Dad and Pa) at 4:15 a.m. Feb. 19 for the frosty drive to PDX. Our flight was oversold, so we took a bump and each collected $200 vouchers!!

Scary taxi ride from Dulles to our hotel in Rockville, MD:

The driver missed a turn and backed up. YIKES!

Dad took a separate flight into Philly and drove down to meet us.

Watched some HGTV while squeezing in a quick workout Sunday morning:

Our hotel was near Shady Grove, the last stop on the Metro line. So we left the car at the park and ride and caught the Red Line into the city.

It was Pa's first trip to D.C., and he wanted to see the transportation exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. So while my family soaked up history, I walked around the Mall and geeked out on all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

TV stuff was everywhere.

CNN was broadcasting live from the Mall:

With Anderson Cooper! Boy, was he a crowd favorite!

Look at the funny little police lookouts:

Sat truck central!

There were plastic tiles placed over the grass along the Mall:

Another press area:

Horses on patrol:

I walked back to the CNN area at noon to watch Obama be sworn in:

The White House:

Washington Monument, still fenced off after the earthquake in 2011:

The Capitol all dressed up and ready for Monday's ceremony:

Next up: Rep. Bonamici's office to pick up our inauguration tickets.

The representative (center, wearing the gold/black jacket) was holding a reception for constituents:

The dome in the Cannon Building:

We met up with Aunt Kari and Cousin Kayla at Bonamici's office and walked across the street to the Capitol:

As the sun was setting and the temp was dropping, we continued our walking tour of the Mall.

We ended up on the inauguration parade route behind the White House. The viewing area set up for Obama:

Love Mom's hair :)

A peek at the White House:

While on the hunt for dinner, we spotted three very fancy motor coaches. I mentioned to Mom that they might be tour buses (there were lots of famous people in town for the weekend's events). We rounded the corner and saw them parking by this:

And then Lynyrd Skynyrd got out of the buses and walked across the street!!

Kayla, a bunch of kids on the street corner and I ran down the block to try and get pictures:

One band member posed with one of the kids:

Those kids were SO excited! Can  you see it??

The band was headed inside to play at one of the inaugural balls:

Sweet Home Alabama!!

After all that excitement, we ate dinner at Harriet's Family Restaurant. Funky but really good :)

That was a long day! We hopped back on Metro and rode back to the burbs for a very short night of sleep before the big day :)