The Rally to Restore Sanity...

William enjoys a bagel on the Metro...
Within 3 stops the train was PACKED!!!

William is off to the rally!

I thought this shirt was pretty hilarious!

My view from the crowd...

The sea of people behind me...

I like that sign over there that says "This sign is too damn big!"

William loved clapping for everyone!

William charmed some very nice people from Iowa into letting him use their blanket...

Wow. I don't even know where to start! It was a wild day, but lots of fun. We started out early, and when we got to the Metro station we were very happy we had our passes already. The line to buy passes was at least 200 people long! Yikes! We boarded a train and scored some great seats and were soon very happy that we lived on the end of the line. Within 3 stops it was standing room only, and soon it was getting crazy. They were packed in like sardines! Everyone was surprisingly cheerful and you could feel how excited everyone was. When we got to DC we decided to get off at the stop by the Building Museum so William could use the potty, which he refused, and then we headed down to the rally. Crowds got thicker and thicker and by the time we got to the entrance it was shoulder to shoulder, but strangely calm. Everyone there indeed seemed to be sane. We were about 2 hours early, but even then we couldn't get very close. We ended up in front of the American Art Museum, about 1 and 1/2 blocks back from the stage. I think the die hards up front slept there to get the close spots. They were showing clips from the Daily Show and Colbert Report on the jumbo-trons to keep us occupied while we waited, and I chatted with some New Yorkers who had driven down that morning. Around us were people from Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Maine, and Oregon. Wow. The show started with Roots, who sounded a lot like the Fugees, and then Jon Stewart came out. I will assume anyone reading this watched the show on TV or online so you know what happened. William and Jason braved the crowds to the souvenir tent and bought some goodies, I saved our spots and prayed they would find me again. It took them over an hour to make it back me, and Jason said that the crowd was all the way back past 7th street and getting crazy. The whole rally was a lot of fun, it was great seeing it all in person. Every time I attend these things I wish I were taller though, I can't ever see much since 75% of people are taller than me. I was very surprised by all the stars that showed up. Honestly I thought Cat Stevens couldn't come into the US anymore...maybe my memory is off, but I feel like there was something about him on the news a few years ago...but I was glad he was there. I love him. Sheryl Crow was great, and so was Tony Bennett. Honestly, though, we all enjoyed the Myth Buster guys an awful lot, and you really could feel it when all the crowd jumped together. Did they show that on TV? Once the rally ended, it took a long time to get home again. The streets were packed and they even had to close Constitution, which is a MAJOR street. Everyone was being nice though and the crowds were still excited. It was a fun day, even if I did get sunburned...