Swearing-in ends, odyessy to get to our Parade seats begins - and ends.

The ceremony ended and we went on our way to find our seats for the parade. We knew we needed to stay on the National Mall side of Pennsylvania Avenue and the directions we were given were to take Constitution Ave up to 6th Ave. The problem was, it was blocked off and no one would let us through. We talked to several officers and Inauguration volunteers. All of them said we could not get through by going out through the Mall side. They said that Gray ticket holders could go through on the other side and then cross Pennsylvania Ave. We listened to them and headed out that way.

We waited in line at 6th Ave. and D St. for over an hour. The massive crowd did not move - except for those who gave up. Bill did some recon and we finally found out that the gate the next street over was less crowded. We went up to 7th Ave. and only had to wait 15 minutes to get in to the secure area around the parade.

We asked around and were told that security had been allowing people to cross the street to get to the other side. We ran into at least 20 other Gray ticket holders who were told the same thing we were and were now in the same predicament. It was 45 minutes before the parade was to begin and security refused to let anyone else go across. Media from South Korea and from other another news agency were also stuck. They were pretty assertive with the military personnel guarding the route and were also unsuccessful in being allowed to cross.

We paid $25/each ($100) for all of us to go to the parade and sit in bleachers. It was very, very frustrating and disappointing. We could see there were seats across from us in the bleachers we paid for and we couldn't get there.

You can see how far we are from the actual parade route

So, we were about six people deep waiting for the parade to begin. It didn't start until 3:15 pm (45 minutes late). The girls were tired of waiting and so we left as soon as the President's car went by and walked back to the apartment.

This was the one really disappointing part of the whole experience. Our daughters did not get to see the parade or President Obama walk (we had planned to sit where he walked) because of the miscommunication/misdirection of others.