Walk-throughs, bombs, and Obama

I have to admit...working on the mall is pretty great. Yesterday, my supervisor, myself, and the interns did a "walk through" in preparation for a Teaching American History teacher workshop we are doing next week. The morning was relatively cool (meaning it had not reached 90 degrees quite yet), so our walk to the White House Visitors Center didn't leave us as hot and sticky as it normally would.

As we neared the International Trade Center, police were everywhere. I have never seen so many different forms of police transportation in my life! Buses, unmarked SUVs, motorcycles, cars, horses, bikes, you name it they were there. A crowd had gathered, so naturally, we joined them.

What is going on? we wondered.

The officer firmly directing us to cross the street did not let on. Not one bit.

But a nice young man in front of us sure did.

A bomb was in the building.

Seriously? A bomb? Good thing they cleared everyone out and secured the perimeter!

We crossed the street joking about the perks of living in the city, and walked the rest of the way to the southern lawn of the White House. Yet, something wasn't quite the same. The roads were blocked, and we weren't able to get as close as we once used to. We couldn't figure out why we were so far from the Southern Lawn. So I decided to ask. A policeman. Who looked pretty intent to pretend I didn't exist. (Seriously?)

Luckily he did decide to answer my question, and at that moment in time we found out that their wasn't a bomb in the International Trade Building, but that Obama was going there for a very important presidential meeting. The road and walk way south of the White House was going to be blocked off for the remainder of the meeting.

Cool, but it was messing with our plans.
We opted not to walk to the middle of the Elipse to see the White House, but to return to the White House Visitor Center. As we were waiting outside, all of sudden we heard sirens and saw a long line of motorcylecs, limos, and ambulances stream out of the blocked off road where we were moments before. The security guard standing outside told us that it was Obama going to his meeting, and if we looked close we could see him in the second limo.

He was not in the second limo. Did I miss my chance to see the President?

Oh, no! Not I.

He was in fact, in the third limo. And I had a pretty good glimpse of Mr. Obama. He happened to be sitting at the window on our side of the street, so our view was unobstructed.

From what I hear, I'm officially a resident of DC. I've seen the President!

Thank goodness there was no bomb!