I got into DC on Jan 19 at about 9:00 am, arriving via the Reagan airport. I stayed at the State Plaza Hotel which is situated in the area called Foggy Bottom. This area is north and west of the Capitol building where the inauguration takes place. The State Plaza is across the street from the George Washington University dorms. I immediately found out that every other street was blocked off to traffic, so I decided to get a Metro pass. I used the pass exclusively and never hired a cab.
After checking in to the hotel, I took the Metro to the Cannon House Office Building, which is a block from the Capitol. I had applied for an Inauguration ticket from Congressman Ro Khanna, the rule is that you have to pick it up from his office. As a brand new congressman, Khanna was on the top (5th) floor of a building that is old and has little elevator access. The Inauguration ticket is a bit fancy and on cardboard in order to make it more difficult to copy. The ticket does not have Trump or Pence's name on it, but does have Schumer's and Pelosi's name on it. My guess is that the Dems sabotaged the print.
The night of the 19th, my next stop was the All American Ball, which started at 8:00 pm. It was the only ball that I could find that required money only, instead of money and contacts. The Ball was at the Hyatt Regency Capitol. So I put my tux on and got on the Metro to get there. Neither Trump nor Pence was due to go to the AAB, so the protesters concentrated on the DeploraBall. A non descript band played for about half the night. I did meet and shake hands with Brian Kilmeade, who is a somewhat regular on The Five on Fox News. Notables seen on stage for the night included Buzz Aldrin, Ollie North. Lisa Boothe was moderating. The Californians had 8 or more tables reserved in a VIP area that I could see but not access. Tim Clark, who ran the Trump California campaign was there and I did get to meet him.
My Inauguration ticket was for the Silver area, which is a huge area nearly two blocks from the Capitol building. While I could see the Inauguration area very clearly, it was too far away to pick out individual people. I had gotten up very early and was less than 100 feet from an enormous monitor, which is where I mostly witnessed the proceedings. It took over an hour to get thru the security for the Silver area. It was supposed to rain, but it didn't until the actual Inauguration started at 12:00 noon. The temperature was about 45 degrees, which made it uncomfortable for Californians. Also, had to stand up the whole time. People were pretty cool while waiting, not too many people tried jamming in closer than necessary. The Inauguration proceedings were relatively short, the cameras focused on the individual political types as each walked in. More than a third of the Dem congresspeople boycotted the Inauguration. Hillary and Bill Clinton did make it. So did Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. Trump's speech was only about 16 minutes. That was enough time to Make America Great Again!
On Saturday the 21st, the Womens March took place on the National Mall, which played havoc with my plans to see some Smithsonians. In the morning I took theMetro from the Foggy Bottom stop to the L'Enfant stop, which is close to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Unfortunately, I was trapped in the L'Enfant stop for 90 minutes. There were just too many people that could not quickly get thru the exit turnstiles. I did make it to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which in many ways was more interesting than the Air and Space Museum. Spent a lot of time viewing history of recent wars and presidents thru the ages. On Sunday the 22nd, I made it to the Air and Space Museum. Both museums are free and I was underwhelmed by both of them. The last time I saw them was nearly 20 years ago, and they seemed outdated. It would be better to charge admission and upgrade the facilities.