The Smorgasbord of Douglas Bell

Well, in a little over 36 hours, I’m going to be heading over to Washington, D.C., as will be about four million other people across the country and around the world. In what will be only my second visit ever to New England, and my first in nearly five years (I went to New York for half a week in June 2004), myself, fourteen other Aragon students, and one Government teacher will be going to our nation’s capitol during January 17-23 to tour the city and to witness the historic inauguration of Barack Obama.

I am not going to take the time to talk all about my itinerary on this blog, however, because I’m actually going to be blogging during the trip. That’s right, I’m going to be taking the daring (and someone nerve-wracking) step of taking my laptop with me outside of the state of California for the first time ever. I’m in charge of a tour blog for the trip, which I’ll be updating via purchased wifi in our hotel (whenever there’s a waking moment available) with summaries of our daily activities as well as photo uploads from our various cameras. Our itinerary (at least, the best itinerary that was available) is also up there, so I see no need to repeat myself here.

About the only real anxiety I have about this trip is about Inauguration Day itself. We’re going to have to get up at 3 AM on Tuesday (which is the equivalent of Midnight PST), quickly eat breakfast, and get on the Metro by 4 AM. Once we get to the National Mall, we’re more or less going to have to hang around out there standing up for 8-12 hours. It’s going to be cold (especially for a Bay Area weather wimp like me) and it’s going to be crowded. The only restrooms available will be porta-potties without toilet paper. There’s a whole bunch of stuff not to bring, and the stuff I do bring will have to be guarded carefully to ensure it isn’t stolen. Oh, and did I mention it’s going to be cold?

So quite frankly, I’m approaching this with the assumption that I’ll probably enjoy the other parts of the trip touring around Washington, D.C., though there is no doubt that being in the vicinity of Obama’s inauguration will be significant to remember. So as I head out on yet another “adventure that I’ll remember my entire life,” be sure you check out the tour blog!