Hello All,

Our biggest surprise of our trip is that ALL 18 Minnesota State University Moorhead received tickets to the Inauguration!! We received an additional ticket from a fellow Fargo man who stayed with us at the Churches, and 4 from a Michigan Senator Carl Levin, 4 from North Dakota Representative Earl Pomeroy, and 7 from North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan. Big Thanks for allowing all of us from MSUM to witness this historical event which we will never forget!

It is 5:30 pm on the day of the Inauguration. Our day started out bright and early at 1:30 am to start packing the MSUM vans to head towards the Capitol for the big day. We arrived at our Tuesday night overnight stay located at the Presbyterian Church on Capitol Hill located only 4 blocks from the Capitol Building itself! Surprisingly, the drive from St. Paul's Lutheran Church in the suburb of Chevy Chase to the Presbyterian Church took less than an hour! Of course, we credit our departure at 3 am for the fast traffic.

At 4:30 am we made our way to stay in line to enter our ticketed area. It was a cold and dark wait. The lines had already formed and people were tired and antsy. My biggest problem was having to go to the bathroom! There were no porter potties or restrooms for those waiting in line! Just before 8am, we finally made it to the gate and security check points. Officers were telling people to head to the check points located at the far end because there were no lines. And it was true, I ran up to a check point and there was no one there and I went through with breeze.

Heath Butrum, Travis Loker, and I had been separated from everyone else so we made our own way to the front. In the end, we made it all the way to the center edge of the Reflecting Pool that is located in front of the Capitol Building. It was an amazing view!

Although it was cold and tiring, I wouldn't trade it for the world! The feeling that we all shared when we heard President Barack being sworn into office was a moment suspended in time. Even with millions of people at the event, all was silent to hear this great man speak. The times to come shall be hard, but we shall overcome.