Wednesday, January 21, 2009

US Navy "Sea Chanters" perform at the Inauguration


In honor our our family friend, Sarah, who performed with the US Navy "Sea Chanters" at the Inauguration ceremony ... here is her picture and her journal entry of the experience.

In Sarah's words:

Wow! What an amazing day!

The Sea Chanters and the Navy Band stayed the night at the Navy Base at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. We had to report between the hours of 9 and midnight because all the bridges into D.C. were going to be shut down by 2 in the morning and after midnight no personal vehicles would be allowed to check in on the base. I reported around 10 and tried to go to bed by 10:30. I set up my air mattress and closed my eyes, but never fell asleep. We all "woke" up around 3:15 and one of the band member's wife catered breakfast for us and we had pancakes, sausage, coffee, and OJ. We loaded the bus around 4:15 remembering to bring our scarves, ear muffs, and most importantly our military IDs; we arrived to the Ancostia Air Force base where we were "swept" by police before heading to our final destination, the Capitol building. We got to the Capitol about 7:30 and just waited...much of the military is hurry up and wait. We stepped out on the platform around 10:40 and from there the rest is history. I hope everyone was able to watch it on TV. The event was very thrilling and it was such an honor to represent the Navy and my country by singing the National Anthem.

This picture was from my viewpoint of the inauguration. The Washington Monument and the millions of people!

Blessings!
Sarah