Ticket Campout

Everyone,

All I can say is that this Egg Roll thing better be worth it. It turns out that all the ladies from my church that I was supposed to go with kind of chickened out because of the snow. They sent their husbands instead. I would have but my good friend, Lea, really wanted to go and her husband works nights. So we went.

We hauled all of our stuff down there on the Metro and walked 2 blocks to the White House. Everyone kept looking at us and averting their eyes like we were homeless. We did look pretty scruffy...old jeans, a tent, bags.

When we finally reached the Ellipse, we dropped our stuff and went in search of dinner. Did you know that practically all the restaurants near the White House close at 7pm? We must have tried 3 different places before we found one that was just closing and agreed to make us some gyros.

And then, the waiting. Oh, the waiting. We sat and chatted with the husbands for a few hours. 2 of them are doctors so that was pretty interesting. And then I got tired so I went and laid down in my freezing cold tent. Because, of course, it was like 20 degrees outside and all I had brought was a sleeping bag. Granted, this sleeping bag will go to -20 so I was still okay. But man it was cold! And I kept waking up to cars going past, and people playing Apples to Apples right next to the tent. I do think I managed to doze off because when my alarm when off to go get the tickets, Lea was in the tent.

My friend Ra, who kind of organized the thing, said that they typically pass out vouchers for the tickets between midnight and 3am. So I set my alarm for midnight, and we proceed to sit out in the cold and wait. Boy did we wait. And while we waited, it started to snow. I had taken my sleeping bag out there with me, propped 2 chairs up and promptly fell asleep. I think I slept for close to an hour when Lea woke me up and said she was going back to the tent because it was snowing too much for her. So back to the tent we go.

Around 4am, they finally came around to pass out the vouchers. I was #104, and I owe that all to Ra's sister who came down at 2pm to set up chairs. Vouchers received, sleep needed. Back to the tent for more fitful sleep.

Then, at 7am, they started coming around and asking everyone to fold their tent. After brushing the inch or so snow off the tent, we did. And then more waiting. But this time hauling all of our stuff around with us. We do not have a light tent. And I couldn't get it back into the bag. I am not the master packer that Juice is.

Finally, we got the tickets. 10:15 am for Monday. This better be worth it.

Safire