The Inauguration festivities were in full swing yesterday, with a massive concert on the mall drawing hundreds of thousands of people to celebrate and listen to Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, U2, Stevie Wonder and others.

The CafePress Ground Crew hit the Mall running with free buttons for the happy spectators – two of them are seen here.

The sea of people made stage visibility near impossible, but the sight of the huge, celebrating crowd was – in our button-festooned opinion – the best view of what this inauguration means to people.

More 2009 Inauguration photos will be uploaded, so if you’re interested do check back in to see what hijinks might find us.

D.C. overall is brimming with a lot of happy people; restaurants and bars are packed to capacity until the wee hours of the morning, and the streets at times look like the sidewalks of New York.

We have seen a massive amount of Obama merchandise for sale; everything from t-shirts to rhinestone encrusted beanies and walking guides of D.C.  (The “stuff we saw for sale” album will be uploaded in a bit.)

Overall, the energy in Washington is that of a huge, collective celebration.  Even the plane ride is was more like riding a peace bus from the 70′s, with passengers talking about the inauguration events and sharing stories of why they were participating in it.

And it’s snowing today, which of course makes the California snow-deprived people happy (and extra-happy that we added good socks to our packing list).

Unfortunately, there won’t be enough snow to create our own t-shirt wearing Snowzilla (or Obamazilla), and the buttons would make such nice eyes.  Ah, well.