(the ticketed seats in front of the U.S. Capitol, with sign-bearing passersby, and media)

Those are just a couple of the latest photos sent back by two of the West Seattleites who are in “the other Washington” for the presidential inauguration. Last night, we published the first report from Fauntleroy residents Carter and Dan (read it here; photo of Carter at right), and this morning we added photos they sent; tonight, we have just received another report, and lots more pix, including the two above – read on:

Carter and Dan write:

Today really ramped up a few notches with the Inauguration preparation and celebratory atmosphere. The crowds are starting to come. Everyone we’ve met has been Seattle-friendly but with lots more emotion. We’ve met people from Utah, Wisconsin, California, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Maine, Nebraska, etc. Everyone feels they are about to witness history. We were interviewed by college students and a group filming a documentary. We took a couple dozen photos for people who wanted everyone in their group to be in the photo. I could have made that a second career here. The requests pour in when you have a big fat camera.

The street hawkers are hawking Obamaware on every street corner. The one that got us smiling was the drawing of Obama as a Roman bust. When we got a start this morning it was 8 degrees and warmed up about 23 for the high. Woohoo! We started the day at the Lincoln Memorial where the Inaugural Concert preparations were going on. The Reflecting Pool was frozen solid leading from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.

We made our way up to the ticketed standing / seating before we toured the US Capitol Building. There was no wait for tours. We hadn’t planned on doing the tour today but the Capital is now closed to the public until after the Inauguration. It was our last shot at seeing the new umpteen million dollar visitor center. I am sending a shot of the stairwell that Obama will go down before he goes through the doors
that lead to the podium where he’ll be sworn in. Just think of what will be going through his mind as he parts the doors to face the millions on the other side.

Here’s that stairwell photo:

Our correspondents continue:

Then, we headed to meet President-Elect Obama’s Inauguration Express Train arriving at Central Station here in DC. It was chaos as no one knew anything. When the motorcade finally blew past, the crowd ran screaming like it was the Beatles (yes, I’m old enough to remember) mowing down quite a few Obama street hawkers in the process. Then, the SUV’s, Emergency Ambulances, Police Cars, and unmarked cars were gone in the length of a scream. Not a photo to be had. CNN and Fox News were out front asking people what they thought of Obama and everyone started piling into the reporter / camera man – like a rugby scrum meets a Barcelona people pyramid. We escaped with our lives. I’ll send the video when I get to upload it from my camera.

Our intention is to show up early before the concert. I have a feeling we won’t be there early enough to get anywhere near the stage. More later from this historic event and time . . .

Cheers, Carter & Dan

More inauguration coverage to continue; we’ll have a special page up by morning as a one-stop shop for where to watch it in West Seattle, and other relevant links.