Thursday: DNC at Invesco Field

Once we got our credentials we immediately headed downtown. A huge perk of the delegate credentials (v. the community credentials) was that we could take the DNC Shuttle right to the stadium parking lot. Otherwise all traffic was stopped approximately 1 mile from the stadium and those poor souls had to hoof it in.

Here's the police officer on our bus heading to INVESCO Field:

Once we got out of the bus we hit the line:
Which wrapped around the stadium:
But, we only stood in that line for about 30 minutes. Then we realized that there was essentially no line up a hill. We scaled the hill via a concrete drainage thingy and got through security in literally minutes!

Woo hoo!

Our level of credentials got us into general seating in approx. 8 different sections in the 100s and 200s. We snagged these seats, just three rows off the field right away:

But, our initial excitement at being so close to the field faded when we realized that the main podium was blocked by all those pesky media cameras. So Abel went on a scouting mission for better seats. We ended up in a 200 level section with an amazing view of the stage. And, since we were in the stadium about 5 hours before Obama was slated to speak, we were lucky to enjoy some great people-watching in that celebrity section right below us!

I'll tell you, those five hours went by pretty quickly. There was great entertainment including Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow. And great speeches by people like Bill Richardson, Ike Eisenhower's granddaughter, Al Gore and Barney Smith.

By the time Barack Obama walked out onto the stage the crowd was electric. I've been in football stadiums with 100,000+ cheering people before, I've been in a baseball stadium with 45,000+ people praying with the Pope, but I've never felt anything like what I felt that night. To have all those people united in a common purpose. It was truly amazing.

There were times I was waving my flag while cheering while tears were rolling down my cheeks. I truly knew and felt that I was part of history. I kept thinking of my grandmother and that I would one day tell my grandchildren about this moment.

And it will feel even better on November 4, 2008 when Barack Obama becomes the President-elect!