Inaugural day end game

Fifth of five entries on Inauguration Day; scroll down to the post "Inauguration Day begins" to start the chronological narrative of the day.

On the tail of the ceremony, former President Bush's helicopter lifted off from the nearby White House and carried him and family off for their return to Texas. The final page-turn of the story.

Our group reassembled after the adventure of the Line Experience. Nate had made it in; Autry never got past the frozen spot in the crowd, stranded with a thousand or two other ticket holders. They were of course pretty unhappy; all who went through that crush was pretty unhappy. The record crowds (early estimates have it between 1.2 and 2 million) in most part seem to have been handled effectively, but particular entry gates and choke points were inadequate. It was dangerous, in fact. The only thing we can take away from it was, it was an Experience. And inside the gates or outside, we were there.

Faced with large lines waiting to get into the parade route, and no assurance there would be a place to see anything, we gave into cold and fatigue and grabbed the metro back to our hotel.

We have one more day in DC. We have a few ideas of things to do tomorrow; we'll see how those go with some possibly lingering crowds.