I started out making “pussy hats” (see https://www.pussyhatproject.com) on January 7, hoping to make at least four hats.  I got through three before the march, one for me, one for Isabel, and one for my friend Carol.  When we were on our drive down Friday night, we stopped at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike.  There was a longer line for the bathroom than I’ve ever seen on that road.  And it was my first hint that pussy hats would be let’s just say prevalent at the march and gave us an idea of just how many people might be there.  When one woman came out of the bathroom she asked, “Is everyone going to the march?”  And a huge cheer from everyone broke out.

We stayed in Chestertown, MD, where my mom lives in assisted living, so lodging was not too pricey.  We had planned to go to the outermost train station to head into DC, but a friend of my daughter’s was at that station and let us know that there was a 2-3 hour wait to get a Metro Card and get on a train.  So we stopped and Googled and found a station a bit further toward the city that was not crowded at all.

When we got on the train, it was a sea of pink hats and completely packed, and a big cheer broke out as we got on and every time the doors opened at each station to let more people on.  Everyone was incredibly friendly and upbeat and energized.

We were told that the L’Enfant station, the one closest to the march start, was closed, and at the time I wasn’t sure why they would close the station.  When we got off a station or two before L’Enfant, I realized why they would close a station.  We were only just able to get onto the platform.  It was completely jammed with people.  We walked in a line all the way to the end of the platform and then turned around and went all the way back to get to the escalator.  There were police and National Guardsmen at the bottom and top of the escalator, extremely friendly, helping the flow of people to go through smoothly.

We walked to the Mall and ended up standing around 7th and Independence, getting there at around 12:30, very happy that we actually made it.  There was video a ways away and audio very near us.  But the speakers were surrounded by some awful anti-abortion and anti-every non-white and non-heterosexual group, with shockingly hateful signs.  They had a megaphone and I think they were somehow disconnecting the audio for some of the time.  And when they were talking through the megaphone, people surrounding them would drown them out yelling, ”