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We had the wonderful opportunity to live close enough to Washington, D.C. to be able to participate in the funeral ceremonies for President Reagan.
On Wednesday, June 9, 2004, we decided to take the kids to the funeral procession down Constitution Avenue. We hesitated all day, wondering if we really wanted to do battle with all the traffic, heat, and human congestion. We decided to brave it and we are so happy we did.

Click on the picture above to view the video (it’s very large — about 40 mb, but worth watching). We also posted pictures in the photo section of the site.

We arrived in DC via subway and we were early enough to get “seats” right at the front of the parade route on Constitution Avenue. We were right near 7th and Constitution, right in front of the IRS building. There are 3.5 foot tall planter boxes that line Constitution Avenue. We staked out on of the boxes and put all three kids up on top. This allowed them to see over the heads of all the tall people lining the procession route. It became quite a balancing act (literally) to keep Seth, Allie, and Camryn all balanced up on top of the box. Seth mostly wanted to test his mortality (and the patience of the people in front of us) by hurling himself off the planter box (the video gets a bit shaky at times as a result). He did get excited once the procession actually started, however.

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The procession was really an amazing thing to behold. The outpouring of love for President Reagan was almost palpable. Two nights later I woke the girls at midnite and we drove down to D.C. to wait in line to walk through the rotunda to view Reagan lying in state. Unfortunately, we made it just about 20 minutes after they closed the line. We made it just about the same time as a man who had driven all night from Florida to pay his respects to President Reagan. If you listened to any of the news coverage, stories of people traveling long distances to pay their respects are legion. It was amazing to experience the goodwill firsthand. What an incredible President. The Great Liberator will be missed…