Last night I joined about 5000 other folks who were camped out - some of them for over two days - on the Bush's front lawn. And no, I wasn't holding an "Impeach Him!" sign. We were there waiting to get tickets to one of Washington's most anticipated events of the year. Hannah Montana? No, the White House Egg Roll!
The grassy ellipse in front of the White House temporarily became a tent city, full of people hoping to get some of the 8000 or so available tickets. Some of the people in line camped out two nights in a row, so I felt lucky that I - with a much appreciated urban camping buddy - scored tickets for Carli and the kids even though I didn't show up until 11:00pm the night before the ticket give-away. I guess you know you're really a dad when you camp out for Egg Roll tickets instead of March Madness or Springsteen tickets.
Around 4:00am, Park Service employees moved down the row of queue-ers, passing out laminated, numbered vouchers each of which could be turned in for 5 Egg Roll tickets at 7:00am. I was number 534 in line, guaranteed to get tickets for the coveted morning entry to the White House lawn. Very exciting! Unfortunately, many of the folks farther back in line were turned away when the Park Service hit the maximum number of available ticket vouchers.
After our two-year stint in Mexico, I was amazed at how orderly the line-up was, how readily everyone followed the Park Service's rules, how fast the tents came down in the morning, and how almost spotlessly clean the campers left the spots where their tents had been. God Bless America!
1 comment:
The Egg Roll was so worth it! Ok, I didn't camp out, but scored tickets from the Scouts. I must say before the event I said I would never camp out for it, now that I've gone, it's on the calendar for next year. We had a blast! Hannah Montana was there last year, I can guess she won't be back :)
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