I'm not a mid-Atlantic person (nor do I play one on TV), but I've lived all my life in wintry climates to feel qualified enough to respond to your inquiry. First thought: the inauguration? In January? In DC? With your family? Are you nuts?! Okay, now that's been said, let's move on. Since you've said you won't be doing the Oprah travel experience, you basically need to plan for =not= being wet and cold during your stay there. Overall, you need to approach this like you are camping out in winter in one of America's largest cities (and not necessarily one of the safest, either).
First, you need to know what type of weather might happen while you're there. I don't recall a modern inauguration to occur during one of the shut-the-place-down storms that seem to happen once per year in DC, but it could be a possibility. But much like Ann Arbor (or so I've heard from friends in MI & WI), DC is not only cold, but damp in the winter. From what I recall watching both live and archival footage, the weather around the 1/20 could be rather decent (as I believe Carter's inauguration was), or bone-numbingly cold (like Kennedy's & Reagan's first). If you'll notice what the people in the good seats are wearing, it's not quite going-to-the-Oscars[R] chic. And those people have a heated space in the Capitol to go into for all but the oath and the speech. You & yours will have less warm accommodations. The key to winter survival (other than being prepared to expect what you're hoping won't happen) is to layer, layer, layer. This is why you've been getting the long underwear suggestions. For a guy, I would start with a regular t-shirt (think the Hanes multipack from Costco variety, not the go-to-the-beach kind), then slap a thermal shirt over that (I prefer the cotton variety, as opposed to the polypropylene variety, but you'll probably have to go with what you can find), then a regular shirt (long-sleeved, of course--something like a turtleneck or mock), then a fleece pullover, perhaps a light windbreaker (like the kind they sell for the beach in CA), then a winter jacket. On the last item, I would probably just use my light Carhartt one, but since you're not used to the temps, then one of the Michelin Man types mocked in "Seinfeld" probably would be better. Will you look goofy? For LA, yes, absolutely. For DC, not so much. More importantly, you'll be warm(er). Below the waist, start with thermal underwear (aka "long johns") over the regular underwear (needless to say, this is not the time to pull a Joey Tribbiani and go commando), then go with heavy jeans or perhaps nylon tracksuit-type pants. For me, the lower half of my body never gets as cold as the upper half, but I realize YMMV. Remember, it could be just cold, or it could be cold and snowy/wet. You need to prepare for the possibility of the latter. Do you plan to be doing any modeling while you're there? Then by all means, get the classy leather driving gloves (which also probably massage your hands while you're wearing them). Your fingers will be numb long before you hear the words "I, Barack Obama, do solemnly swear..." But hey, they'll look nice. Stop putzing around on Amazon.com and go to the nearest REI or similar store that caters to people skiing in Calley-forn-ya (yes, I realize that may require some travel). See what they have, try stuff on. If you try on any pair of gloves in the store that feel perfectly comfortable while you're wearing them, take them off and go for something that feels like portable ovens for your hands. Trust me, by the time you get them to DC and have them on for an hour or two, you'll be wondering why you didn't go with something warmer. With footwear, sneakers/athletic shoes are just fine--until they get wet. Heavy socks are great too, but when they also get wet, you will be tempted to just pull them off and go barefoot (that is, until you're feet quickly become numb). Consider a pair of hikers that are "guaranteed waterproof". Coleman used to license a line, but there are many other brands as well. You need something that is at least ankle high. You didn't mention, but need to consider, headwear. I'm personally not a headgear fan, summer or winter. But if you will be doing what you're doing, it's a must. See if you can get those wraparound ear muffs and then go with a ski cap/hat or something warm that goes over your head and your ears (again, in the principle of layering). Having a hoodie or something similar (as part of the previously mentioned above-the-waist gear) can also help keep you from feeling like you've crashed in the Andes and are just waiting for the inevitable to occur. Lastly (and this is a biggie if you're traveling to an event), prepare for basic needs. Where will you go if you need to warm up? What if (or most likely, when) someone needs to go to the bathroom? [I've been around plenty of gross stuff in my life, but porta-potties in freezing weather have to seem like one of the grossest, esp. with tons of clothes to deal with.] What if someone needs a drink of water or wants a hot beverage? What if everyone is freezing cold, tired, and just wants to go back to the hotel (which, I'm guessing, could likely be somewhere in rural VA or MD)? I would expect many places in DC (especially near the Mall) to be closed, not only for the inauguration itself, but to prevent the teaming masses from overwhelming them. Plan on seeing temporary signs that say something to the effect of "No Public Restrooms" (assuming that is legal still in DC). I've been to big events in DC in nice weather and found certain things to be a challenge; that will likely be worse in inclement weather. Hopefully you have friends and/or contacts with which you can spend some warm-up time with or at least know of someone staying in a downtown hotel whom you can persuade to let you warm up there & take advantage of the bathroom facilities. This is probably more necessary when you have a spouse who has not dealt with cold weather, as well as children. Rumors of your possible demise are likely exaggerated (though I hesitate to use a qualifier like 'greatly'), but should serve as a caution to prepare as much as possible. It's hard enough to deal with the issues inherent in a large crowd in a large city (pickpockets, hustlers, scam artists, etc); more so when you are preoccupied with your personal comfort. Crap always has a tendency to happen, but the more prepared you are the more likely you will have a positively memorable experience and not memorable in the same way the New Year's Day skier in Vail had. _____ On Jan 9, 1:05 am, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm sure this is a dumb question. In my defense, while I was born in > Ann Arbor, I have lived almost all of my life in California. My wife > is from Hawaii. > > I am taking my family to DC for the inauguration. We don't have > tickets, so we will be standing in the mall with a million other > people, probably for many hours. We have been told to wear long > underwear and gloves. I mean, we have been told: "Seriously, I'm not > kidding. You must wear long underwear and gloves". OK. We have worn > those before, on the 5 or 6 times we took the kids skiing in Tahoe. I > think I know what long underwear is. But do they really mean gloves > like what we used to go skiing? The ones I had were kind of bulky, and > I don't look forward to having to use them all day (and I don't want > to look like an idiot, dressed for the arctic unnecessarily). On > amazon I see 5 or 10 different kinds of gloves. I kind of like these > classy looking leather driving ones - but maybe they are not really > meant for cold/rain? I don't see anything that says "perfect for cold > ass winter weather in an urban environment". > > While I am at it - what kind of shoes should we wear? I almost always > wear sneakers. When we go skiing I wear big old clodhoppers - but I > find those rather uncomfortable. Would it be stupid to walk around in > the cold or snow in sneakers, or will those work fine if I have heavy > socks? > > One more thing: How does intelligent human life manage to survive in > climates where it gets so cold that you actually have to think twice > about the kind of clothes you are going to wear? People are telling me > that if we make the wrong clothing choices we could die; I think that > is God's way of suggesting that people don't belong there. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
