Inugural Fever to Inugural Burnout

This is my first inauguration in DC. Well, sort of-- we lived in Alexandria during the 2005 inauguration, but we hadn't lived here long and did not have tickets to anything, and we didn't really understand how it all the logistics worked. So I went to the metro, realized how crowded it was and came home.

Given this year, we live in DC (within walking distance of the Capitol) and the historical nature of the event. We've decided to jump in with both feet. As of yesterday we had an astounding line up of events:

Saturday: Whistlestop Tour in Baltimore (we will be in Baltimore anyway)
Sunday: Free Concert on the Mall; Iowa Delegation Inaugural Dinner
Monday: Virgina Inaugural Ball
Tuesday: Parade Viewing Party from private offices on Pennsylvania Ave, the Iowa Delegations Inaugural Reception, The Midwestern States Official Ball, and the American Indian Ball

I went from being excited to having burnout over the course of this week. We're now told that for each of these events we'll need to be there anywhere from 2 hours to upwards of 8 hours in advance to get through Secret Service Security (the security is unprecedented, as there are an estimated 2-5 million people that will descend on DC) and we'll all have to go through metal detectors. It's going to make the airport look like a walk in the park. The traffic and road closures are expected to wreak so much havoc that the Members of Congress who live a little further out are sleeping in their offices Monday night, because they won't be able to get into the District in time on Tuesday.

As I continue to get updates on security protocol, crowds, and road closures I'm getting more and more discouraged. I've already decided I'm not going to any of the public events listed above only ones that I have a ticket for and I'm about two minutes away from just watching it all on TV!!!