I am thinking of attending Obama's inauguration and wanted to know if anyone in the DC area or not has any information on where to fly to, where to stay, and where and what time exactly to go to on the 20th of jan

Any help would be appreciated.

I'll be there! Going to breakfast atm (late night last night) but I'll post all the details in a bit.

I have a ticket but I'm not sure if I'm going to be in DC on the 20th. I'll let you know.

Thanks guys

Flying into Reagan National (DCA airport code) would probably be your best bet, as the metro rail system goes right to the terminal. So long as you are staying in the DC/MD/VA area, you can cut down on needing a rental car and such.

Ok, so first ... the Inauguration. You *don't* need a ticket, though obviously the view is better if you have one. Its gonna be really, really fucking cold. Possibly rainy. What I suggest is getting there at least 30 minutes before they open security to get the best view possible without a ticket. You should have plenty of time post-inauguration to make your way out to the parade route *unless* its raining, and then the parade may be put indoors and you are gonna miss it.

To get to the inauguration you're only viable option is taking the Metro. Capitol South or Union Station are your closest metro stops (Union Station is ~5 blocks to the North, Capitol South is ~4 blocks to the South). It will be impossible to park unless you have a press or Capitol parking permit, even less likely you'll find a cab, and so forth. When you are picking out hotels, keep this in mind. Hell, even if you can find a cab or parking place on your way there, traffic is gonna be locked down for the parade for hours upon hours afterward. When we taped Bush's last Inauguration, we sat in traffic for a good 4 hours after the event to get home.

Next, book a hotel and airfare now. Your ideal scenerio is like Fadorn said, to fly into National Airport. Some people call it Reagan, but your party affiliation won't let you :) The closest and most convenient hotels will all be placed around the airport in an area called "Crystal City" or "Pentagon City". These are very close proximity to the blue and yellow metro lines (Capitol South is on the Blue line). The Smithsonian Metro Stop isn't too bad either, since that is somewhat west of the Capitol (and the Inauguration, as of now, is happening on the west face of the Capitol). Some hotels my parents have stayed at while visiting were the Crystal City Marriott and the Doubletree Crystal City - all of which were nice. Though honestly anything in Crystal City will be good (its a huge place for lobbyists to stay at when visiting, although its in Virginia its actually closer to the Capitol than most places in DC, just over the Potomac River)

Map of the metro here: http://wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm

Supposing that the cost of airfare into Reagan is high, Dulles International Airport isn't that bad. You can get a cab from the airport to Crystal City for maybe $30. Hell, catch me on my day off (not Inauguration Day, lol) and maybe I'll even give you a ride - its not too far from my house.

Worst case scenerio, BWI is ~45min from DC. If you are coming into BWI, you may want to consider hotels along the "red line" as they are easier to get to from the north. I think Sanchek found a great hotel last time he came in which wasn't too close to the Capitol, but was in a decent location.

The entire week is gonna be a huge party. People are all booking their airfare now and planning the various Inaugural Balls and such. Given that, you'll need to book something ASAP to keep the costs down.

Man, I miss home, sometimes....

Thanks for the great info. I need a cheap ass hotel or even a crap motel close to the action. Gonna look up some prices and see what I find.

Uh, you really dont want a cheap ass hotel or crap motel when in DC. If you're staying by yourself that is. Safety in numbers!

Uh, you really dont want a cheap ass hotel or crap motel when in DC. If you're staying by yourself that is. Safety in numbers!

I'm from Los Angeles...

Which means they will roll you before you even know what hit you Jedd. I grew up around that area, and trust me, there are places that you wouldn't want to be in after dark, even if you were from Oakland......

We walked around DC each night were were there. It was no big deal.

Sanch I think Sixee is refering to all the liberals that will be in the area at that time.....
dangerous for sure.... :)

I'm just saying, avoid South East DC and the cheap ass hotel/motel.

Yes, there are plenty of places you can walk around at night without any probs. I was just offering a piece of advice, do with it as you will.

Nah Sixee and Giena are pretty dead on. Right, across the Anacostia you don't want to be after dark (or even during the day). Even places in NE, hell 6 blocks South or East of the Capitol you want to avoid. But there are a few cheap motels in Crystal City which are ghetto but fine. The income disparity here is fairly obvious and the east side of the city is quite the dump. The problem with the other "cheap motels" is that they aren't near the metro, which means you need to taxi or cab it to metro stops which isn't a cost effective way to do it. There's a few super cheap motels not 10 min from my house (and 15 min from downtown) but there's no public transportation out here.

Here's a map of crystal city, with the local of the crystal city motel ($45 a night I think)
http://crystalcitymagazine.com/motel/c_map.gif

Sanchek prolly walked around Dupont Circle and Georgetown, and thought "DC isn't such a bad place at night."

As opposed to what, Jedd hunting around town for the worst areas so he can boost his Ayonae street cred? :rolleyes:

Well , being a big fan of 24, my first thought of Jedd looking to get to Washington DC brought back memories of a recent season of said show ;P

Does Jedd look like Kal Penn?

To be fair, Kelraz also thinks where I live is ghetto (Columbia Heights).

DC is going through a massive wave of gentrification. If you stay out of Anacostia you'll be fine. People that still think it's horrible probably haven't been here in a decade.

well , being a big fan of 24, my first thought of jedd looking to get to washington dc brought back memories of a recent season of said show ;p

lol

As opposed to what, Jedd hunting around town for the worst areas so he can boost his Ayonae street cred? :rolleyes:


No, in fact I was trying to keep him from doing just that.

Just because you walked around DC when you were there at night, and were not accosted, just means you didn't go to Northwest (a demilitarized zone) nor Southeast (a true war zone).

If you had, you wouldn be here to split threads, you would have been rolled, and probably shot in the fase.

Ugh. NO!

Anacostia is fucking BAD. If you go there at 3 am piss drunk and start stumbling around you will probably be mugged.

THAT SAID, there are not dozens of murders going on every night. I know quite a few people who work in Anacostia and make it home safe every day.

I also know someone who was beaten to the point that he had to have surgery on his face, and they didn't even steal the 300 dollars in his wallet (Was gang related).

Thinking that wandering off the well-beaten path is going to earn you a bullet might have made sense in the 80s, but that's just not the case today.

Oh, and let's not forget that there is NO REASON TO GO TO ANACOSTIA. Unless you want to see oldschool DC culture, NO REASON! It's not like you can accidentally end up there, unless you pass out on the metro going south on the green line.

Looking back I can see where someone might think my comment on Jedd getting to DC was racist.

I certainly didn't mean it that way, just his need/desire to get to DC struck a chord.

I apologize to Jedd if it seemed I was trying to be a dick. While I have that capacity I certainly didn't mean to be one with that statement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anacostia#Present_day

In 2005, 62 of Washington, D.C.'s 195 homicides occurred in the 7th District of the Metropolitan Police Department, which also includes the neighborhoods of Barry Farm, Naylor Gardens, and Washington Highlands. This figure is down from the 7th District's peak of 133 homicides in 1993 [3].

Sixee, weren't you the one who was just talking about how experience is more important than 'dem book smarts? I hope you can understand the irony of you now quoting Wikipedia to someone who lives in DC.

Anacostia isn't somewhere I'd be hanging out. I told you that. But it's not like people are firing off automatic weapons all of the time. White people do live and work there in relative safety.

And besides, it's not like you're going to just randomly stumble from the US Capitol to Anacostia. There is only one place that you could be that would even open you to the possibility of accidentally walking into Anacostia, and it's not a factor in January. (The new Nationals Park) Other than that, you have no reason to be anywhere NEAR Anacostia. I've been exactly once, and I've lived in Washington for about four years now.

Wikipedia = a book?

/Boggle

Also I lived in the area for 19 years myself, Sanchek. While I realize things change over time, I also realize some things never change. And you wouldn't catch me in Southeast D.C. for any reason.

Man, I miss home, sometimes....


That would make you an eastern liberal elitist at heart.

Nope, Northern Virginia, back in the 70's was Conservative.

The dynamics of that area have changed in the past 10 years, and probably leans more Liberal now more than ever. I think it has a lot to do with the influx of foreign nationals, as well as the tech industry.

Kind of hard to hold on to traditions when you have a bunch of new ideas being pumped in.

We're actually kinda sorta planning to attend this too. Leah really wants to go and since we have friends there we may just crash with them and try to see it. Who knows that's a long ways off for me but it would be really cool to see :)

Columbia Heights is a ghetto too!!! (Though I can appreciate it is changing rapidly, and an election without riots on U Street shows that!)

Hope you have deep pockets Jedd:

Obama inauguration tickets fetching 5 figures online:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/10/inaugration.tickets/index.html


Cheers,

Don't buy em, just ask your Congressman, or go to the free area.

Hope you have deep pockets Jedd:

Obama inauguration tickets fetching 5 figures online:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/10/inaugration.tickets/index.html


Cheers,


Unless of course you have a direct invite from da'man! ;)

I'm sure security will be ridiculous for it, but you couldn't pay me to be there that day.

Chances are, nothing will happen. Yet, the chances of something happening are higher than any other inauguration in the history of the country. No thanks. I'll watch it in HD instead.