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!

Thursday: Securing Credentials

Oh my gosh. What happened to Thursday? I blogged about Tuesday and Wednesday. You mean to tell me that my little blogging elves weren't typing away my thoughts as I tossed and turned in the middle of the night composing Thursday? They are definitely getting fired. Okay, you're right, maybe that is a little extreme. They are getting a strong talking-to. That's for sure.

So, Thursday. That's August 28, 2008. A day for the history books. The day that Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States of America.

And we were there.

And it was amazing.

When we left for Denver we didn't know what events we'd be able to get into: everything was up in the air. My mantra was that I wasn't going to worry about anything. Except, that is, getting in to Thursday night. I told myself that if we got tickets to INVESCO field that would make the whole trip worth it.

We thought we had one ticket. Earlier in August the Maryland State Party held a drawing for their guests (e.g. those who didn't get credentials because they were official Delegates) and Abel's name was drawn to win a credential for Thursday night.

We were pretty sure we had another ticket as well. On Tuesday we had traded two VIP tickets to the Boyz II Men event for one (or hopefully two) credentials for Thursday night.

The problem was that literally no one actually received any Thursday credentials until Thursday morning. So, until we had them in our grubby little hands we weren't counting on anything.

Thursday morning we made sure to get to the Maryland Delegation breakfast first thing. I'm glad we did because it was by far the best breakfast of the week. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman sponsored it and he invited his brother and president of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Doug Ulman, to speak. (I'll tell you what, these are two incredibly impressive brothers.) The other keynote was Congressman Elijah Cummings. Wow. He's amazing. My first tears of the day flowed during his early-morning incredibly-rousing remarks.

By the end of the breakfast we had a piece of gold in our hands--one credential for INVESCO Field.

We got back to the house and found out that our other trade had come through--with not one but TWO credentials!

Then, a friend called who had an extra credential. Do we want if? Of course!

At 8am we had zero credentials. By Noon Abel and I had secured a total of four.

Wow!

That meant we could take the best of them for ourselves, two credentials that gave us access to the delegate transportation to/from the stadium and seating on the 100 or 200 level of the stadium. We were also able to give the other two to our host who gave them to his 16-year-old son and a friend, allowing these two African-American teenagers to be part of history.

At 1:30pm, with credentials proudly displayed around our necks, we were off!

Name that Celebrity!

I have to admit I'm having a hard time writing my post on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention. Our Day 3 was Thursday. THE DAY. The historic day when Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States. As I've already mentioned, we were there, in the stadium, for the speech. And it was amazing. So amazing that I'm having trouble getting it down in words.

So, as I work on that. And, as a break for any of you not so interested in politics. Here's a post about celebrity sightings! Real celebrities!

You see, the section right in front of us seemed to be chock full of celebrities. Some were easily recognizable like Susan Sarandon and Dana Delany. Others looked familiar. We were certain they were famous. But, we couldn't quite place them. But, we confirmed they were, in fact, important when the entire group got up and was escorted to better seats!

So, today I give you "Name that Celebrity!"

Join the fun by naming these celebrities in the comments section.

Celebrity A:


Celebrity B:

Celebrity C:

Celebrity D:

Celebrity E:

Three weeks from now...

...I'll (hopefully!) be at INVESCO Field at Mile High listening to Senator Barack Obama accept the Democratic Nomination for President. I am SO excited!

You see, my husband and I, we're basically political junkies.

When he got a raise a few months ago we decided we'd put some of that money toward a vacation--just the two of us. While practically all our friends have jaunted off on cruises, or to Italy, or to all-inclusive Caribbean resorts, we went on a very low-key honeymoon to the Outer Banks and have centered all our vacations around extended family or weddings.

For a few days we dreamed of a vacation featuring crystal clear water and a swim up bar. Then we realized that what we each really wanted to do was go to Denver. No, not to ski. To attend the Democratic National Convention! (Told you: political junkies!)

Oh, but the hurdles were high. Neither of us are delegates (but trust me, I'm going to figure out how to make that happen four years from now!) and every hotel room in the city seemed to be booked by the DNC. Airfares were sky high.

But we quickly got into gear. My parents blocked their calendar to watch Lucas. Abel found a friend we could stay with. We figured out what day Southwest was opening up the flights for convention week and booked our flights at midnight that day. We've also both been working every connection (granted, Abel has a few more than I do) to get tickets to cool parties and events--more than 1,500 events are planned in Denver that week! The one ticket we have yet to secure is the most important--Obama's acceptance speech. But, we're working on it.

And now we're just three weeks away. So, I need to start focusing on the truly important question: What should I wear?!