The past two nights, we’ve brought you updates from Carter and Dan, Fauntleroy residents in D.C. for the inauguration (albeit without tickets). Right now, we have a report from West Seattle resident Stephanie, who’s also in D.C. along with husband Hans and their toddler – who’s going to spend Inauguration Day with area relatives while Mom and Dad join the crowd. Hans is tweeting at @p_delta (with photo links from their sightseeing), and Stephanie has sent a longer update – which explains (among other things) the photo you see above:

Stephanie reports:

(Sunday night), Hans and I spent a couple good hours with my brother and sister-in-law going over our “tactical plan” for getting out of Arlington to “somewhere near the mall.” As I understand it (and, well, that’s debatable), we will kiss our daughter buh-bye on Tuesday morning bright and early. My brother will drive us to the Falls Church metro stop . . . we’re calling it a “drive-by” right now, because if there is a line of people out the door, we won’t be getting on the metro. If we are out-numbered and out-maneuvered by the hordes of people who jumped on the metro ahead of us, we drive on (inch along??) to Rosslyn. From there, we hoof it! That seems to be the best scenario, really. It’s less than a mile walk over the Roosevelt Memorial Bridge or the Arlington Memorial Bridge. (And scenic, too, I’d imagine. ALL pedestrian traffic, how many people thick, heading in one direction en masse over the icy Potomac? Like George Washington! Awesome.)

But who really knows what’s going to happen? The nightly local news is completely flummoxed. They seem to have the “who will make, and who will eat the inaugural pastries” bit all wrapped up, but lots of mixed messages on what the day will bring. The latest report has the crowd at 2 million strong (down from 5 earlier in the week). And yet the police chief was on TV this morning all smiles, saying, We want everyone to come and see the Inauguration! Come on down!

Well! Here we come!

Some of my ‘laws other strategy tips for the day (that I thought I’d pass along):

Get a map. (Sunday’s Washington Post has a good one . . . it shows what stops are closed for the day — ie: Archives and Smithsonian. Unfortunately, it won’t tell you which ones are “leave” or “arrive” only. That could be interesting. Grrr.)

Charge up your metro card. (We’ll be doing this [Monday] to avoid any last-minute snafus.)

Charge up the cell.

Carry snacks. (No bottled beverages, I believe.)

Plastic bags to keep cameras dry.

& Take note of happy eateries on the way. Some place nice to warm up, take a bathroom break, and recharge for the rest of the walk home.

Oh! One story I read that cracked me up said that they expect that the porta-potties (though there are many!) should be about 10,000 to 1. Ahem. Hope we don’t all have to go at the same time. =)

Cheers!
Stephanie

BTW — Arlington (like everywhere around here) is flush with Obama-gear. From the Safeway to the hardware store: shot glasses, flags, t-shirts, dolls, whatever you desire! We got hot sauce at the local bbq place — Hans posted the pic on his twitter feed.

And that’s where we got the photo at the top of this post. Speaking of which, just so you know who you’re hearing from, here’s a photo of Steph and Hans:

Reminder, our Inauguration info page (including West Seattle events, during and after) can be found here.