Blog by WAVY News 10 reporter Derrick Rose:

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Wow. What an amazing day and experience. I almost don’t know where to begin.

Right now its about 1030 a.m. and I’m not too far from the Capitol bldg but I have a huge jumbotron in front of me.

The best part about this moment is spending it with my family-mother, father, sister and cousin. We braved the cold at 5am to hit an enormously crowded metro rail system. I’ve taken the metro hundreds of times but obviously it’s never been at the capacity it’s been today. That’s what happens when everyone wants to be a part of history.

I wish everyone who wanted to be here could come because just like covering major breaking news like Katrina or 9/11, it’s one thing to see it on TV but when you’re here, you’re in the moment and words alone do not come close to doing these moments justice.

The members of the US House are making their entrance now and we are just moments away from history.

Members of Hollywood are all over. On the jumbotron I’ve seen Dustin Hoffman, Steven Spielberg, and Muhammad Ali but no Andy Fox. I’m sure the Foxxer is around here somewhere scoring an exclusive with some big name.

The weather just in case you haven’t been watching TV is cold but not bad considering I’m in a direct beam of sunlight and I packed on more layers than the cold weather story I did last Friday morning on WAVY News 10 Today. I’m having flashbacks to my days at the ages of 3 to 5 when my mom used to bundle me up in this little navy blue snowsuit with the knit gloves safety pinned to the sleeves. I couldn’t raise my arms then, I don’t think I can raise them now. Speaking of the weather there was music playing and everyone was bouncing and moving but I’m convinced it was more to keep warm than to keep the beat.

Its about 1040 am now so it’s a little more than an hour until the Transition of Power.

I’ll be sending in more photos to our webdesk throughout the day.

Derrick Rose
Reporter, WAVY News 10

Blog from Jenn and Amanda:

9:20 a.m.

So a little more than two hours now until the start of the Inauguration. The giant TVs are replaying Sunday’s HBO concert special, so we’re kept entertained as we anxiously await the President-elect.

The only real problem out here is the cold. It seems our many layers of clothes are not holding up to the nearly freezing temperatures. Despite the weather, though, it is still a very exciting place to be! And this crowd is growing bigger and bigger!

More to come…

Jenn and Amanda

Blog from Jenn Rojsuontikul and Amanda D’Attilio:

At about 3:15 a.m. our alarm went off and we got up to prepare for our train ride into D.C. from Manassass, Virginia. The Virginia Railway Express sold special tickets for today’s Inauguration, so we were guaranteed a seat. Still, we wanted to be sure. So we arrived at about 4:45 a.m. at the train station. Just after 5 a.m. the train pulled up and we got on.

We were told not to bring a lot with us for the sake of security. So we just packed some snacks and a blanket to sit on while on the Mall. Once we arrived we saw the mass of people moving toward the capitol. There were vendors selling all things Obama, hoping to profit a little from this historic event. We were really surprised there were no security checkpoints for those of us watching from the National Mall. But we hear random searches could be in place.

Huge TVs are set up for all of us to watch! We’ve tried to send some pictures but it seems that cell service is either weak or jammed. So we’ll send those pictures along after the event.

Aside from the crowds we’re also dealing with the cold. We both have dressed in warm layers: 2 pairs of Under Armor pants, a pair of jeans, two Under Armor shirts, a Northface, and a jacket! So we’re keeping nice and toasty.

As soon as things start going we’ll send along more updates!

- Jenn Rojsuontikul and Amanda D’Attilio
William & Mary and George Mason students