It was just around 7:30AM; the temperature was freezing cold in the low twenties. I took my steps outside the train at the world famous Union Station, tired, groggy and just about ready to drop on the pavement sleeping, but as I walked outside and saw the capital building and the thousands of people around me with overall upbeat vibe, that’s when it hit me, I made it to the inauguration, in some ways feel like I have accomplished the impossible – leaving San Francisco and reaching the other side of the country in two days by car.

Passing each state with a sort of vengeance knowing our goal will not wait if I slack, the decision was made right after watching the movie Notorious in Theatres, driving down Polk street in San Francisco, the radio played a commercial about the inauguration, I did want to go as I attempted to receive tickets and save some money but things don’t go exactly as planned.

“Dude I wish we can go man.” I said and my friend gave me a face I won’t forget.

“Then lets do it.”

Seconds later it was set, we are going to make it DC or bust. Quickly receiving “no” to “are you crazy?” responses from mostly all the people we invited to come along, we were still rock hard on our resolve.

We quickly packed and started the journey, facing what seems to be an impossible mission, Washington DC from San Francisco in less than two days. But forty seven hours later, what seemed to be forever behind the wheel and little to no sleep later, looking upon the nation’s capital, it hit me to the core; I just smiled and felt like a five year old in Disneyland.

It was in a sense a goal in life for me, all my life I had a passion for politics, I even had aspirations for becoming president when I was little. It was a culmination of dreams of not only me but the millions there witness with me and the more watching on TV. But being there was so different, the overall sense of people from around the world coming near and far, the sights of the White House, the Washington Monument and the National Mall, and the countless street vendors selling Obama shirts, Obama flags, Obama bookmarks, pretty much anything you can put Obama on. I bought me a couple of Obama dollars.

Standing with a deafening silence Barack Obama swore in and became the nation’s 44th president. It will be something I will remember forever, look back years from now and smile, and I would do it all over again.