Article Contributed on: 8/29/2008 10:02:53 AM
My feet hurt. And my patience with waiting in lines is severely frayed. But, wow, I must say it was a cool experience being part of such a historical moment. Here's a recap of how the night went:
3 p.m. Get on the packed light rail to Invesco Field. Met a nice girl from CU who was also going to the speech. She said her family volunteered for the campaign and that is how she got credentials.
3:20 p.m. Get off light rail at Auraria west stop, because they're not letting people off at Invesco (too crowded). I see some lines of people as I walk through the parking lot, but I see people going up and over Colfax - at least they're moving. So I decided to follow that crowd. Turns out that was a big mistake.
3:30 p.m. I hear as I'm walking that the wait is 1 ½ hours. If only if turned out to be that short ... Someone yells to the people walking over Colfax, "Save us a seat!"
3:45: Keep walking up and over to Federal, trying to find the end of the line. Buy a water from a T-shirt vendor because it is HOT. I feel bad for the elderly people having to do all this walking.
4 p.m. Line finally dumps into upper Invesco Field parking lot. No one knows where the end is; it just snakes around in a spiral. I join the middle of the spiral.
4:30 - Barely moved. People are confused and getting upset, no one knows what is going on, if we are in the right place. A guy near me checksthe Internet on his phoneand says 9News reported that the line is two miles long.
5:30 - Still in line crawling at a snail's pace. Fellow line member Carol Pace, of Denver, says, "If they couldn't pull it off, they shouldn't have done it." She said this mess is just going to equal bad press for Denver and for the campaign. The rumor is that the Secret Service are to blame for the mass chaos. A couple near me debates whether to bail, but decide to wait it out.
6 p.m. - Cops show up and finally organize the line and hand out water. Yay! We finally start to move. The ladies behind me say they've been waiting for about three hours as well. I see the girl I met on the light rail in line behind me and give her a wave.
7 p.m. I finally, finally get inside (security was a breeze once you got there). Grab some nachos because I'm starving. There are no more seats left on the first level - even for media, so I run around trying to find somewhere to sit.
7:50 p.m. Find a seat at the very tip-top and collapse with relief to be sitting. I arrive just in time to see Obama's bio and introduction.
8:05 p.m. Speech begins! I am tired but exhilarated to be here.
9:15 ish - Speech concludes amid blasts of fireworks and confetti. I start to head toward the light rail and am caught up in the same smush as before. They herd us all in the same place. I resist the temptation to yell "Moo!" People are in a pretty good mood despite it all. After about 40 minutes, I make it on the light rail. Whew.