Day Four: Witness to History

DAY FOUR: TUESDAY, JAN. 20

Last night I called the front desk at out hotel and asked to schedule a wakeup call. The lady replied, “Sure! For what time?”

“Four o’clock” I replied frankly. Silence. “Hello?”

“You Want a wake up call for four a.m. tomorrow morning?” She asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.” I replied

“Ok, well, you have fun with that” she said as she hung up the phone.

Boy did I.

I ended up sleeping through the wakeup call and awoke to a chaperone beating on my hotel room door. Thankfully, it was only 4:30, so I still had an hour to get ready.

After I got on the bus, I grabbed my pillow and fell asleep almost instantaneously and did not wake until we arrived to our drop off point in the city, the Robert F. Kennedy Football Stadium. The parking area was packed with tour busses. As we got off, we started to walk towards the city, our original plan, but shortly after we had started, we were stopped by a police officer and told that we could not walk, we had to take a shuttle into the city. This put a kink in things. The shuttle was nice and warm, but it took us close to an hour to make the two mile journey into the city via shuttle. It would have been a twenty minute walk.

Once we were in Washington, I started to get very excited. The streets and sidewalks were full of people. It was crazy. I have never seen so many people in one place before. We were all being herded around the city like a bunch of cattle, obediently following our shepards, who, in this case, just happened to be heavily armed!

The mood was joyous. Everyone was smiling, yelling, and chanting as they made their way to their destination. We ended up having a nice spot next to the Washington Monument. We were right in front of one of the Jumbo Trons so we could see the ceremony well. The worst part was the waiting. We were in our spot several hours before the ceremony began, and it was so cold just standing still, but, once again, it was worth it.

Seeing the ceremony firsthand was awesome. Even though I was watching from a Jumbo Tron and couldn’t actually see President Obama, I was still less than a mile away from where it was happening, so that made the experience so much better than just watching it on TV.

Finally I have become a witness to history. How do I feel? I don’t think I can describe it with one word. I am ecstatic that I had the opportunity to come, glad that I have another great story to tell my children - whenever the time comes, sad that we have to leave, and just plain tired.

After the inauguration, we ate lunch at, and explored, the National Air and Space Museum where I took my band director into one of the interactive flight simulators. Now, these things were very cool. They rotated 360 degrees and took two people to operate- a pilot and a gunner. I was the pilot and, about halfway through the simulation, hung us upside down for a little while, just as payback for a few things!

After another long shuttle bus ride, my group arrived back to the charter bus and thought that we were going to head home. Whoa! Not so fast, band! Little did we know that bus traffic in the parking lot would be so bad that we would spend over two hours trying to get out on the road. Well, eventually we did and now I am typing up my last blog. It has been a great trip. I would like to thank everyone involved in getting the Flowery Branch High School Marching Band here; it wasn’t an easy task. Thanks for reading.

...............................................................................

DAY THREE: MONDAY, JAN. 19

Honoring the soldiers.

The hour long bus ride to Arlington National Cemetery was a great opportunity for me to catch up on some much needed sleep. I was amazed when we arrived at the number of people there, but what was really cool was the silence. Everyone there was respectful enough to be quiet to honor our fallen soldiers. We only had about an hour until we had to return to the bus, so we quickly and quietly walked to where John F. Kennedy is buried. Then we went to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. That was very neat. The three soldiers that participate in the ceremony every hour move at the same time; in perfect harmony. Being in marching band only makes you respect that even more.

After Arlington we went to the nearest mall for lunch. Big mistake. That mall was packed to capacity. It took my group almost an hour to buy and eat a sandwich. I guess that’s just an indication of what tomorrow will be like.

We were supposed to go back to the Monument Mall today, but were unable to because of time restraints. So, instead, we toured Annapolis, Virginia and visited the United States Naval Academy.

The highlight of my night was the Senior Dinner. Mr. Wiebers, our band director, took the seniors out to a nice restaurant to eat and just share some laughs on this final journey of ours and yes, for those of you who know The Wiebs, as we affectionately call him, did cry.

The wake up call is already set for tomorrow morning. 4:30. Good grief. But, tomorrow is the day that we are really here for. The Inauguration of President Elect Barack Obama. It is sure to be a long and eventful day.

Well, off to pack!

...............................................................................


DAY TWO: SUNDAY, JAN. 18

Wake up calls come too early.

I woke up this morning to the hotel phone ringing. It was our wake up call. As I set the phone back into its receiver, I glanced at the clock sitting next to it. 6:00 a.m. I shut my eyes. When I awoke again the clock read 6:30. I climbed out of bed and turned on the light. Time for another eventful day.

Today was spent outside of D.C., mostly at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax, Virginia. The band arrived around 10:00 a.m. and was two hours early, so we went into the auditorium to watch several of the other bands perform.

Finally, the time came for us to shuffle backstage, warm-up, and perform. I was nervous about how we would do because we only had three full band rehearsals leading up to the concert. We performed, and then received an on stage mini clinic from the Director of the Notre Dame Band Program. He praised our hard work and dedication, gave us some tips on how to improve our performances, and then we were off to the mall for lunch!

After exploring the local mall, the buses took us back to The Center for the Arts to change into formal attire for the awards ceremony and ball.

We arrived at the ceremony fashionably late, but before dinner started. After dinner, awards were given to all of the bands that performed in the festival. As Flowery Branch was called you could hear everyone hold their breath until it was announced that we had won the Silver Award- given to bands scoring between an 80 and a 90 out of 100 points. The group was ecstatic and I, along with Andres Guerrero, went to accept the award.

After the awards came the dance. Energetic is probably the only word I can use to describe that dance floor. There were several hundred kids packed onto a tiny little area all dancing their hearts out. I have to say that that was probably one of the best dances I have been to.

The day is drawing to a close. As I write this, we are on our bus, headed back to our hotel to go to sleep and do it all again in the morning. Tomorrow we will visit Arlington National Cemetery and then venture back out onto the Monument Mall, probably to much larger crowds and tighter security.

...............................................................................

DAY ONE: SATURDAY, JAN. 17

A witness to history.

That’s why I am here in Washington D.C.

I feel so blessed that I am here with my fellow band members playing music, sight-seeing, and attending the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama.

I arrived in our nation’s capital early this morning weary eyed, but excited.

As I stepped off the charter bus and surveyed my surroundings, I said to myself "this is awesome!" There were TV trucks and cameras everywhere and off in the distance were the steps of the capital building where, in three very short days, President Elect Barack Obama will be sworn in.

After I pinched myself to make sure I was actually here, I noticed something else. Something I am not used to. The immense cold! I mean, it is freezing! But, I will deal with the freezing temperatures just to be here.

Today was kind of a relaxed day. We wandered around the Monument Mall, visited the Natural History Museum, and got settled into our hotel. One thing that is disappointing is that several of the monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial, are inaccessible because they will be sites of different speeches and events leading up to the inauguration.

Oh! Also, shortly after we checked into our hotel, a fire alarm went off in the building next to us. Next thing we know, the street was crowded with four fire engines, three ambulances, and several police cars! It was a false alarm, but very exciting!

Tomorrow we play in a music festival and will attend an inaugural ball. Wish us luck!

(Corey O'Quinn is a member of the Flowery Branch High School Band which is in Washington for Tuesday's inauguration and a part-time employee of AccessNorthGa.com. His thoughts on the trip to Washington and the events surrounding it will be posted here daily until after the inauguration.)