ChangeKC

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

After sleeping a bit after the balls, we ventured out into DC traffic to check out some sites. First stop (since most of us had been to DC before and we only had a few hours) was the Newseum. The museum dedicated to the free press of the United States.

First thing you see when you approach the Newseum is a display of today's Front Pages from newspapers from each states and other countries.

On a day like the 21st, there some amazing headlines to see.

Shout out to Sister Sarah. :o)

A Taiwanese Newspaper

The Newseum also has an amazing historical archive of newspapers.

The one above is from the 1600's. Below are some others from historically significant moments in American history.

There was a separate exhibit dedicated to coverage of 9/11.

The transmitter below was recovered from ground zero.

Recovered pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Fabulous view from the Observation deck at the Newseum.

Staffers from Obama for America were treated to a staff ball on Wednesday evening. Very few details were enclosed, just tickets and a start time. Stan and I, as staffers, were given tickets plus one guest ticket, lucky Heather! We had no idea what we was in store...
The Staff Ball was held at the Armory and had a definite USO feel.

Below is the coat check, absurdly huge, where I'm pretty sure I broke my toe...don't ask!

Once we were well into the food and libations

(So much better than the "Official" ball food, I might add, and open bar! Woo Hoo!)

the program began. As we arrived, Arcade Fire was entertaining the crowd.

The speakers began, starting with Joe and Jill Biden, introduced by his look alike sister.

After the Vice President and Jill, we had the first of our entertainng special guests, Kal Penn, a.k.a. Kumar, who was on tap to introduce campaign manager David Plouffe. Kal was hilarious, his entire speech was about the hair raising, life endangering rides he shared with campaign workers and staff while a surrogate in Iowa and elsewhere. He even had the names of each person and gave a shout hout. Totally hysterical.

David Plouffe, addressing his troops.

David Plouffe introduced the new PRESIDENT Obama and Michelle,

who were much more relaxed than last night.

They spoke casually and interacted with the crowd for about twenty minutes.

President Obama gives Michelle a hard time.

The President tells us not to drop the ball now that we have it.

After the President and First Lady wrap up,

they inform us that we have surprise entertainment is coming up...

Jay Z rocked the armory, performing all his hits, some with humorous modifications.

Wearily, we returned to the condo and prepared to head out the next morning for our last stop on the Freedom Tour, Philadelphia!

First though, we had some more DC photos to capture and souvenirs to pick up.

A word about photography while driving. (Like those above ;o))

I would just like to say that though some photos turn out pretty good, like the one of Linc in Philly,where the Eagles play, but I don't encourage the practice. Sorry Mom...and Enterprise...

Philly has marvelous architecture. City Hall, below, is awesome.

We took photos during the day and later, after dark to capture it.

The Cathedral next door.

The Reading Terminal Market...looks like lunch!

After lunch., we headed over to Independence Hall,

where the draftings of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution took place.

Some photos of the interior are below. It is difficult to adequately describe what comes over you when you stand in these rooms. To think of what we had just witnessed, in Washington DC, while standing where it all began, was a humbling and emotional experience.

This is the courtroom in Independence Hall.

This is the room where both documents were authored.

The chair at the head of the room is the original chair George Washington sat in.

Duh, guess what this is...

City Hall at night, another driving picture...

Needless to say, this was the trip of a lifetime. I'm so glad there is a medium where I could do my best to convey the experience! Once in a lifetime!

January 20th, 2009, Evening

Bizarrely, both Stan and I, as staffers, were invited to the Official Eastern Regional Ball. Not that Kansas or Missouri are in the Eastern Region, but, that was seemingly irrelevant.

But, as my mom pointed out, we were much more likely to see cool celebrities at the Eastern Ball than the Midwest one, so we were game. Plus, it was at Union Station instead of the Convention Center, and promised a lovely venue.

Pre-Ball, around 5pm, while we were watching the parade CNN, we heard some well...interesting news. Because of the delays in the daytime events, the Obamas were going to be running a little behind schedule. They would arrive at our ball, the last one of course, between 2:35 and 2:55 AM. Lovely!

So we pushed our cab pickup time to 10PM and started napping.

After taking the mandatory pre-prom-like photos, we headed to Union Station to have a ball!

Duh, me, in weird overhead lighting.