Inauguration with Some Friends

     Last night I arrived at Lambert International Airport around 10:30 PM. I walked off the plane and into the terminal with the grace of a drunk. The previous 3 days consisted of waking up at 4 AM, going downstairs to the dining hall in our hotel and eating breakfast, then getting on the tour bus to go siteseeing, and eating lunch, then going for a walk in the 15 MPH wind. Sure, D.C. doesn't sound fun from that standpoint, but for me, it was a trip that will stick with me for years to come. 

     The first day we were in D.C. we decided that it wouldn't be cold enough for us to use our hand-warmers and foot warmers that we'd brought with us. How sadly mistaken we were. Everyone was so cold that first day, at one point we were all huddled together like a group of penguins. After finally getting inside and actually being able to feel our feet again, we walked around the National Air and Space Museum. It was like a scene out of the movies. Soldiers were walking around greeting everyone and talking about theiir experience in foreign countries, museum tour guides were dishing out information about every aircraft inside the building, and little kids were oo-ing and ahh-ing at every shiny plane hanging from the ceiling. My friend David and I walked around the museum until it was time for our group to head to the Holocaust Museum. 

     The Holocaust Museum has the tightest security out of all the SMithsonian buildings because of a bomb threat a few years ago. The security is great and would never let anything happen to the museum or its patrons. Of course, as always on some great trip, something had to go wrong. I forgot that while emptying my pockets of my phone, wallet, and other electronic devices that my belt was still tightly secured around my waist, and that my metal belt buckle was fastened to it. If you've ever been patted down at airport security, you know exactly how this goes. They innocently ask you to step aside and then you become very friendly with the TSA agent whose name is Gregg. Then when they find out you're clean they tell you where to pick up your stuff and you go on pretending like nothing just happened. 

     The first day was capped off by arriving at the hotel around 7:30 and we had to be up early the next morning for the big event: The Inauguration. I'll let you all guess how long it took us to fall asleep.