I can't help but be impressed by the huge show of people at the Inauguration. I remember attending George W. Bush's first Inaugural in 2001 in D.C. and not seeing a similar type of crowd. People really turned out, filling the entire mall all the way out to the Lincoln Memorial. In Bush's inaugural, the crowd only went out halfway to the Washington Monument. I also recall the presence of a huge number of protesters all over Washington, along with the cold dank weather.

I found the sight of it to be almost overwhelming -- in a good way. When a hush falls over a crowd that size, the way it did during Obama's address, it makes for a powerful scene. Made me wish I could've been there.

Eight years ago I was among the crowd along the parade route during W's first inauguration. Although its hard to keep up with everything that is going on when you are part of such a huge crowd, it was still a fun and unique experience. I'm not healthy enough to be out in crowds right now, but otherwise probably would have joined the masses. I don't know if others reading this have walked the length of the Mall before, but it really is a large area of land. Seeing it as packed as it was today was pretty amazing. I'm sure there will be great memories for plenty of Americans in the future as they look back on today and the excitement that there was amongst so many people.