Day Five - POTUS

Here is a picture from my hotel room window of our new president on his way to the White House.

Day Five - Tuesday (Inauguration Day)

There is not much to say today other than, "crazy, crazy, crazy". There are people everywhere. We tried going out of the hotel to the parade route, but the whole place is locked down. The police only let 300,000 people into the secure area for the parade. I am able to see a 300 foot stretch of Pennsylvania Ave from my hotel room window. I guess I'll just watch the parade from here. In the pictures below you'll see a two man sniper team that is located about 100 feet from where I'm at. You'll also see the Presidential motorcade as it drove by on the way to the inaugural ceremony.

Day Four - Monday

We had another good day today. As usual, we got a late start. We left the hotel around noon and took the subway to Union Station; it was busy. The volume of people in and around the subway stations was incredible. The entire city is packed with people. At one point we were literally belly to back just trying to cross the street.

(The front of Union Station)

After leaving Union Station we walked south past the U.S Capital to get some lunch before heading to Arlington National Cemetery.

It took awhile to eat and then get to Arlington. We almost didn't make it. The cemetary closes to the public at 5 p.m. and the last public viewing of the Changing of the Guard is at closing. We arrived with 15 minutes to spare. Words really cannot describe Arlington and the Changing of the Guard. It is a very sobering experience.

You can read about Arlington and the Sentinels of the Unknown at this link: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/ceremonies/sentinelsotu.html. You can also see a video of the ceremony here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqZ-mkdp1H0.

Day Three - Sunday

What a great day! The Spradlins and I made to Capital Hill Baptist Church. We were excited by the opportunity to hear Mark Dever preach, but were even more excited when we found out they were having a guest preacher. C. J. Mahaney of Sovereign Grace Ministries was the guest preacher. What a blessing and privilege to hear C. J. proclaim the Word of God. Over the past several months Jennifer and I have both been profoundly impacted by the work of Sovereign Grace Ministries and the preaching of C. J. Mahaney. Really, it is the Word of God proclaimed by C. J. as well as God's work through him and Sovereign Grace that has impacted us. I just wish Jen could have been there with me; since she wasn't I picked up a CD of the sermon for her. I know she'll appreciate it.

(Mark Dever is the one standing next to me and C. J. Mahaney is the one turned away from me. I felt silly for asking Mark to take a picture, but really wanted one for this blog)

After lunch I let Matt talk me into going down to the Mall to check out the opening Concert for the Inauguration. What a mad house! I heard that there was around 500,000 people at the Mall today and that is supposed to be between 2 and 4 million on the day of the Inauguration. The closet sounds better and better. I imagine we may go out and do some people watching. Not sure yet, but we'll figure something out.

We are definitely gonna go to Arlington tomorrow to watch the changing of the Guard as well as visit J.F.K's tomb.

Day Two - Saturday

We kinda got a late start today. Matt woke up with the squirts so we didn't make it out of the hotel until 2pm. After a late lunch we walked down by the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the White House.

It's is absolutly freezing here. When I woke up this morning it was 0 and when we went out it was in the mid 20's. Jen said it was 61 in Ada today. I'm so glad I live in the South. I don't think I could handle the cold of the North.

Tomorrow morning the Spradlins are gonna go with me to Capital Hill Baptist Church. This where Mark Devers of Nine Marks Ministries pastors. I'm really excited about going and hearing him preach. Since we didn't make it to Arlington today I think we're gonna try for it tomorrow. It's starting to get crazy busy; there are people everywhere and the starting to block roads. We'll see how it goes.

Day One - D.C. 09 - Friday, January 16th

We didn't have any problems getting to the hotel; it was rather uneventful. After checking in we walked down to Chinatown for some dumplings and noodles. It was good and cheap! We thought about going to see a movie, but the showtimes were a little too late for us to wait; we may try again at a later time. Once we got back to the hotel we powered up the xbox 360 and hung out.

Not sure whats on the agenda for day two. We're thinking about going to Arlington National Cemetary to watch the "Changing of the Guard" and then taking in some monuments, maybe the National Archives as well.

It's not much, but the picture with this blog entry is from my hotel room window. The far object is the rotunda of the U.S. Capital bulding. You can also see a small section of Pennsylvania Ave from room. Maybe I'll watch the Parade from here or maybe I'll just hide in the closet; just kidding.