We started out at Speaker Pelosi’s welcome party for folks at the Cannon Building.  Great event. Some of the best food.  Saw Keith Baraka, Nicole Ramirez, Elmy Bermejo, Rick Galbreath, Susan Bluer.  Also saw Gia Daniller and Steve Katz.  Here’s a picture:

The party was lovely.  Great to see folks and catch up.  Everyone was still talking about ‘purple-gate’.  I’m still amazed at how many people could not get into the inaugural.  Here’s a shot of Julia in front of the Cannon Building:

Afterwards, we headed over to Union Station to shop for memorabilia.   We did some minor sight seeing along the way – like at the Supreme Court with the words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’.  I thought to myself – someday:

Shopping at Union Station was a completely insane experience.   45 minute waits just to purchase mugs, chidlren’s books, pins, and the like.  Totally crazy.  Everyone is so excited about the new administration and all the Hope Obama brings!

Then, off to the staff party which was held at the DC Armory.  Great times with my friends Ellie Schafer and her partner Julie Colwell, Debbie Mesloh.  Here’s a shot of me, Ellie and Deb in front of the official ‘prom’ picture area:

And another one of the five of us

Rumor has it that these folks will not be returning to San Francisco yet and will be spending more time in DC.  in addition to Ellie & Deb, there were hundreds of staff present.  I saw Northern California organizer Peggy Moore, San Francisco organizer Kenya Wheeler.  Heard Matt Haney, Linda Leu, Nate Osborn were there.  Here are some fun pix

Speakers included David Plouffe, The Vice President and Jill Biden, and of course the President and the First Lady.  Some pictures:

For those concerned about lgbt representation in the administration, let me tell you that I met a ton of openly gay staff persons hoping to serve.  They are committed individuals who understand what needs to be done.  Between that, Obama’s announcements on Ethics and Guantanamo and removing troops from Iraq, his postings online reiterating his commitment to lgbt rights, I slept well last night, knowing the best is yet to come….

I had every intention of at least making it to the pre Out for Equality Ball but couldn’t do it.  I needed that extra hour!!  Finally, we started our trip back into the city to attend the Western Ball.  Here’s how the parties work:  there are ten ‘official’ balls that are invitation only.  Those official balls are the events that the President and the Vice President attend, dance with their spouses, make brief remarks.  Previously, there was a ball per state or two or three states.  President Obama had his by region: mid western, mid atlantic, western, northeast, etc.  There was a neighborhood ball and a youth ball.

Now, the Out for Equality event was at the exact same time.  This event was an all inclusive lgbt national community organizations and non-profits coming together to plan one event for the lgbt community.  This was VERY frustrating, because we basically had to choose which event to go to, given that all traffic was gridlocked and cabs were impossible to come by, let alone the crowds on the Metro and getting there and getting back.  Oh, and did I mention SEEING THE PRESIDENT?!?   We decided to go to the Western Ball.  The LGBT community’s presence is important, and trust me, we definitely got some stares.  But it’s all good.  Folks need to SEE us and MEET us, you know?

Anyhow.  Here’s a preview of the ‘official’ portrait from the Ball:

When you entered the room, IT WAS ENORMOUS!  Literally, they said thousands of people.  I didn’t think it was thousands, but it was large enough.  Unfortunately, a lack of San Franciscans in the room.  We spotted Marcia Smolens and her husband Richard, Hala Hijazi, Shanda Scott, Obama campaigner superstar Ellie Koss, Gweneth Borden.  Here’s a shot of the room:

What they say about the food was totally on point.  It was not good.  And we did not make it to dinner before.  Drinks were pricey ($9 for well and $6 for beer) but doable.  Entertainers were all over the inaugural events.  One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that P. Diddy rolled up while we were waiting to get into the inauguration?  Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez played the Western Ball.  Here’s a shot of Marc Anthony:

Kanye West played the Youth Ball.  Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder played the Neighborhood Ball.

Here are some shots of the President and the Vice President:

Sorry we didn’t get bonafide pix of them.  Just couldn’t get close enough. …

So the end of an unforgettable day.  As we left, we took one last shot of the crowd:

Enjoy these ‘postcard’ shots of the scenery:

The big deal was trying to get folks to allow the doors to close after folks got on.  The mood was great and folks were so happy.  It’s like President Obama said during the campaign, America is waking up from a deep, deep sleep.  Here are some shots from the Metro, the line, the stage from our vantage point, enjoy and then read!!

News reports showed that the lines for ticket holders were long, and that law enforcement was unable to move the people traffic.  It was horrible.  We thought that because we had yellow tickets, which were basically  just about front row if done right, that we would be fine.  We waited in line for three hours, and barely missed the inauguration.  We were let into the standing area as they were announcing the Presidents.  My friends who were in the purple area were in by 9:30a.  I have friends who have purple tickets who were unable to make it inside at all.  Sorry, Jennifer and Dan.  It wasn’t the same without you.

We finally made it in, just in time to witness Senator Feinstein’s eloquent welcome and emcee performance.   During the invocation, one person around us asked if we could fast forward through this portion.  Obama’s speech was spot on.

Getting back was a total disaster.  Thought getting back from Invesco was bad?  Just couldn’t break through it. Ended up going on a two mile walk through one of the DC neighborhoods to catch the Metro.  The crowds at Union Station were too much, especially after a morning like this one!! And now?  Just watching the parade and need to get ready for the Inaugural.  Stay tuned for more pix!!

Russ and Ann were gracious enough to brave Costco and get us a new camera.  In return, we had a bunch of events and to do’s.

When we began to plan our trip, we didn’t realize that we would be invited to an official ball.  So we purchased tickets to the Equality for All.  Then we were offered tickets to the West/Southwest Ball.  So we had to sell our Equality for All tickets, which we did to Larry Shorter and his friend Tony.  We met them for brunch at a great place called Open City.  In addition to Larry and Tony, other folks joined us including Rudy Fuentes whom I met through Emilio Cruz from my Willie Brown days.  It was an awesome brunch, filled with great food and better company.  We invited BALIF board member Shay Gilmore and former Alice board member Mark de la Rosa to join us for the day to keep us company.

After brunch we went to Jack’s on 17th street for another round before going to the events of the night.

First off was former Alice board member John Lazar’s party at his lovely home on Vermont Street.  John lives in a classic DC home, so my wife tells me.  I thought his place was fabulous, well decorated, great food.  John has also served on Los Angeles’ Stonewall as well as currently serving on the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club board.  So there were a ton of gay democratic movers and shakers in the room.  Shay particularly enjoyed listening to Garry Shay, openly gay DNC member who told us stories about the famous Rules Committee meeting during the presidential race.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council event.  All the national mover and shaker types were there – Andrew Tobias, Judy Dlugacz, Obama Finance leader Joan Garry and a bunch of others that I don’t know or don’t know yet.  San Franciscans may remember native David Tseng who relocated to DC.  He’s now general counsel for the District of Columbia.

Julia ran into her old boss C. Dixon Osbourne from her SLDN days which made her happy.

Larry Handerhan, Alex Randolph, Alfredo Pedroza met up with us there.

The exciting news is that we got to meet Marisa Tomei.  As in the Marisa Tomei from My Cousin Vinny.  Picture is forthcoming.  That was a great cap to a better day.  We had dinner with friends from law school in Maryland and then off to bed to prepare for Tuesday.

As we walked in, we saw Wendell Pierce, aka Bunk Morland on The Wire.   A long line for the official picture was directly in front of us.  Saw my colleague Marc Guillory and his girlfriend in line.  The complete Air and Space Museum was available for us to see.  So, we started to walk.  Down towards the first end of our tour, was the DJ, Benji Madden.  For those not in the know, he is front man of Good Charlotte and used to date Paris Hilton.  Saw Paul Henderson and his partner, Kevin.  Other delegates from the National Convention were there.  Then we walked towards the bar….saw Clay Doherty and his friends.

The swing band was actually pretty good.  Saw newly engaged couple Erica Walters and Mark Mosher.  Mark took pictures of the Pelosi grandchildren raiding the dessert tables.  For a $150/ticket, there was a great hosted bar, decent food, and plenty of room to enjoy it all….

A couple of members of San Francisco’s judicial branch were there as private citizens, Teri Jackson and Kathleen Kelly.  Here’s a picture of my good friends Deputy City Attorney Kimiko Burton and Managing City Attorney Marisa Moret

Most of the Obama crew, the Citizen Hopers were there – Matt Haney, Nate Mezmer.  Kenya Wheeler.  So many folks to name, So many people who helped make this happen.  And this was a great party to kickoff the inauguration of a lifetime…..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTYIE2-uODg]

And the road to The Mall:

We did have some parking close to The Mall, and had to sweet talk our way through the Military Police.   We San Franciscans don’t really understand military presence, especially with the different accents.  More scenery:

Finally, we made it.  And without special tickets we were all the way on the other side of The Mall – like at the Washington Monument.  Wasn’t this supposed to take place at the Lincoln Memorial?  Oh well.  It really didn’t matter with the thousands of people there.  The temperature warmed up with all the body heat.  And the temperature wasn’t all that bad – a balmy 35 degrees.  We walked around until we found the best vantage point, stood and watched.  Here’s some pix of Russ and Ann and the girls, and of Julia and myself:

Of course, it was a bummer that we did not have the special seats.  But, it didn’t matter.  We saw James Taylor play one of my favorite songs of his “Shower the People,” along with Sheryl Crow.  Bruce Springsteen.  Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland.  Of course, STEVIE WONDER and MARY J. BLIGE.  If you can’t plug your own musical heroes, why blog?  Beyonce.  It was hard to hear the speeches from where we were.  But it didn’t matter.  When we look back at the pictures, we can say, we were there.  The feeling among everyone who attended was great.  Young, old, different races, ethnicities, etc.  Everyone was so happy to be there, enjoying the moment.  There’s a great picture in the New York Times – check it out on my facebook page….