My Trip to D.C.

By Jimmy Pitenis

On Monday, the day before the inauguration, my mom and I went to the Mayor's Conference in D.C. We heard some great speeches from people like the new Senator from Alaska, Mark Begich, and former President Bill Clinton! Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Arnold Schwarzenegger also spoke.

I got a chance to talk to T. Boone Pickens and ask him a question.

"Mr. Pickens, could you please explain why natural gas powered vehicles would be more cost effective than vegetable-powered vehicles, or even mejthane-based biofuels that use algae, for example?"
He answered, "They're both OK, as long as they're American-made biofuels. I'm with you, sure, but you can't get enough of it"

Monday's Volunteer Ball

Monday night we took the trains to the Waterfront to go to the Zanzibar to meet Jen Shaw. When we got there, our names were on the list, but the bouncer wouldn't let us in because I'm not 21. So mom called Jen Shaw and she came out and let us in. We left early because I had to get up REALLY early for the Inauguration the next morning.

We got off at Judiciary Square Metro station and walked with the huge crowds to a security check point on 3rd Street. That took 45 minutes to get through. Then we were stuck at the corner of Constitution Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. The police wouldn't let the crowds cross the street to get to the National Mall. That was OK for us because we could see from that point. We stayed most of the day in the freezing cold. Our hand warmers don't work that well.

The parade was cool. President Obama's motorcade drove by us  nice and slow but he didn't get out of his car until after he passed by. By that time we were ready to go home, so we really didn't see any marching bands.

We did get a chance to talk to some of the people. We've never seen a crowd so charged and enthusiastic! Cheering and chanting, "O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!"  There was an older African American woman standing next to us. Her name was BJ Mitchell and she lives in D.C. "I've waited my whole life for this," she said. "I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Her granddaughter Julia Mallory was standing next to her She was about 12 years old. "I'm having a great time here just watching history happening!" she said.