D.C. area residents field calls from friends, family hoping for place to stay during inauguration

[babylonsister]

Washington, D.C., area residents field calls from friends, family hoping for place to stay during inauguration

By Avis Thomas-Lester and Lori Aratani

Washington Post
Article Launched: 11/08/2008 09:42:58 PM PST


WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama hadn't left the stage at Chicago's Grant Park on Tuesday night when telephones started jingling across the Washington area.

America, apparently, is looking for a place to crash.

"People who haven't called me in months, years, are suddenly calling and saying, 'Hey, I was just thinking about you,' " said Eric Tyson, 29, a pharmaceutical salesman who lives in Anacostia. "And then, as the conversation continues, they say they might be up for the inauguration and then they ask how many people are staying at my house."

The same kind of conversation is happening across the region, as the inauguration of the first African-American president — whose diverse, fervent following filled arenas on the campaign trail — has people from across the country and around the world planning to be in Washington on Jan. 20.

In Mitchellville, Md., Elease Houston's nephew called from Atlanta. In Georgetown, Kyle Gibson received an e-mail from a buddy looking for a bunk. In Northwest Washington, Astrid Trinh fielded calls from loved ones in four different European countries.

"My house has turned into a bed-and-breakfast for the inauguration," said Trinh, 46, an administrative legal assistant at a Virginia law firm. "I've got people coming from Belgium, France, Switzerland and Spain. I think there will be about 15. ... I told people they could come and I'll figure out the beds later."

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http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_10938440

[Stinky The Clown]

1. We're hosting my wacky brother-in-law and sister-in-law ... at least

I say wacky. They're leftier than we are!

Seriously. We love 'em and actually .... we invited them.

We have no hope for tickets to anything. We just want to be on the Mall that day and absorb the energy.