Mary Allen and her friend, Aklilu Asfaw, stood shivering at 10th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue all day yesterday.
Allen, of Arlington County, and Asfaw, of Alexandria, arrived at 4:30 a.m. and didn't move until the president's inaugural parade passed them 12 hours later.
"I just got to see Barack Obama and Joe Biden walking down the street," Allen said.
"I'm taking part in history," Asfaw said.
Virginians came to Washington yesterday with high hopes for the new president.
They braved the cold, wind and a huge crowd. Their gloves wiped away tears and their scarves muffled cheers, and enthusiasm was tempered only by the understanding of the tough work ahead for the country's new leader.
Yorktown High School senior James Herring wasn't old enough to vote in the November election, but he wanted to witness a defining moment in American history.
"Even if he doesn't turn out to be that great a president, he's giving everyone hope," Herring said. "And that's something I haven't felt in a long time and my friends haven't felt in a long time."
Three buddies who met while attending Woodberry Forest School, a boarding school in rural Madison County, sat on the sloped earth in front of the Washington Monument and watched the throngs along the National Mall.
Billy Butler, a Roanoke native who just recently moved to Washington, said he had to witness history.
"We're fans, we're Americans and we want to see Obama speak," he said.
Butler huddled next to Anderson Fariss, a North Carolina native who gushed that there was simply no other place in the world he would rather be. "It's just a great day to be alive," he said.
Folks relied on cheering, singing and body warmth to keep spirits high. Strangers pulled one another over walls, passed tissues when tears started and shared tips on staying warm. They came from all corners of Virginia.
Illysa Schrager of Fairfax slept Monday night on the floor of her bosses' locked office -- with four friends. "We ate snacks, watched CNN and played cards," she said.
A Falls Church family spent the night together in an apartment closer to the district so they could walk in to see the inauguration.
"Five in a one-bedroom, it was cozy," Bianca Santos said.
Daryl Garrett's cousins flocked to Washington from across the country to watch the inauguration together. Garrett, 54, of Fairfax said she was drawn to the inauguration by a memory of a separate entrance for blacks to a sweets shop when she was young.
"I was a little girl in Alabama and I saw those days, and there's no way I would have missed this," she said. "I'm just really, really proud."
Henrico County's Katrise Perera walked 3 miles from her hotel to the Washington Monument, fought crowds and got separated from her group. But it was all worth it, she said, to be part of history.
"The synchronicity of things happens for a reason," she said.
Laverne Carter traveled from Wicomico Church on the Northern Neck and led a train car of strangers in a rousing rendition of "Lean on Me" at 4 a.m. yesterday. She said she never doubted that a black person would become president someday.
"I knew it would happen in my lifetime," said Carter, who is black, "because [the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] gave prophesy."
Regina Morris came alone to the inauguration, but she's representing the hopes of a group of people she cherishes in Newport News.
Morris helps care for residents of the Warwick Forest retirement community, including a 96-year-old, three-war veteran whom she took to the polls to vote on Election Day.
"I'm here today to see an important part of history on the part of my residents," she said.
Elizabeth Gampth of Vienna became a U.S. citizen in October, voted for Obama in November and came to yesterday's inauguration to celebrate a vision that she said includes people like her, an immigrant from Trinidad.
"All the voices are heard," Gampth said.
Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.
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