Dispatch from the Inauguration: 'Our Coats & Bags Were Checked but Not Our Tickets!'

Thousands of people wait to enter through a security checkpoint at 7th Street to attend the Inaugural celebration on the National Mall (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Left the house this morning at 6 a.m. (that's 3 a.m. in California). The streets were already teeming with inauguration goers. There was a palpable sense of excitement, as there has been in DC for days. The swarm walked toward the capitol building in heavy anticipation of... something. No one knew exactly where they were going and security wasn't sure what to tell anyone. It was a mad house, a chaotic scene that was calmed by hundreds of red hatted volunteers who wished all a "happy inauguration day" and gave high-fives.

We trekked and waited for hours, silver tickets in hand. Snipers from atop the capitol looked down as we pin balled toward the security and ticket entrance. Our coats and bags were checked but not our tickets! No shit. Anyone could have gone inside, perhaps.

In any event, we ambled inside and muscled for a spot. Oh, and its fucking freezing. How cold? I now have nine toes. But press on we must and it will be glorious. Spirits are still very high, despite the wait. Strangers have become friends and every image on the jumbotron elicits cheers.