Inauguration Barriers and Obstacles

We usually take the same route every morning, but it is getting more and more difficult to navigate around our neighborhood with inauguration preparation in full swing. And because the national mall is our neighborhood, you can imagine the mess and inconvenience at this time of year. We have lived through inauguration twice since we moved here ten years ago, so this is number three. It is oftentimes exciting to be in the middle of all this, but it can also be quite frustrating when barriers block the streets we usually take, and the dreaded parking signs caution us about no parking in the days ahead. That probably irritates me the most because we don't have a garage and depend on available street space which is already limited. So this week we will need to grin and bear it, or stay inside. Aside from that we decided to walk all the way to the White House. We couldn't even see it or the parade viewing stand as it was blocked by about eight dump trucks and the street in front was completely barricaded. On the other end of the avenue, a rehearsal was taking place at the Capitol where people were milling about trying to glimpse whatever they could. Unfortunately, the predominant feature is porto potties. Hopefully things will go well, as they usually do. It looks a lot different when you live somewhere else, but at least I can say we were there when....