I pulled into the parking lot just after 6:00 AM (tip: you can save 20% on parking by making reservations and prepaying on their web site). I sat in my car for a few minutes before getting out and unloading my bag, backpack, folding chair, and camera bag next to my car. It only took a few minutes to realize I should have stayed in the car longer. I was wearing a t-shirt and never even considered taking a jacket or sweatshirt. It's pretty cold right before the sun comes up, even in August.
We all checked in with the trip's organizer around 6:30, and the buses were running a little late. Since Bev decided not to go (a later-regretted decision), an older father/daughter got split up and the father ended up sitting by me. Unfortunately for me, he didn't have any respect for seat boundaries. The buses didn't pull out of the parking lot until after 7:30, a half-hour late. I napped, listened to my iPod, read a very few pages in my current book, and watched part of Batman (1989).
My brother called as we were driving through downtown Morgantown, which has a very cool public transit system that I was having trouble describing over the phone, although I think "amusement park ride" is appropriate.
Thankfully the buses didn't try to push straight through, but stopped at a rest stop (with a view) which I think was somewhere near Cumberland, MD around 2:00 or 2:30 PM. This was originally about the time we were told we'd arrive at the hotel. There was plenty of traffic once we got to D.C., and we didn't walk into the hotel until 5:00 PM.
After getting our room keys, we were told to meet back downstairs at 6:15 to go buy our Metro passes for the next afternoon. It was decided that only a couple of people would go buy all the passes for everyone. A couple of us were disappointed as we wanted to get to the mall while there was still daylight for pictures. We were told we could tag along to the Metro, but it was getting late and it turns out it would have been dark by the time we got there that way. Melissa and her mother Caroline, my hotel roommate Lloyd, and myself split a cab four ways for the 12 miles trip and got dropped off very close to the Lincoln Memorial around 7:15 PM as the sun lit its west side and began to glow orange on the Washington Monument.
The steps of the Lincoln Memorial were covered by people sitting quietly and reverently. I swapped phone numbers with Melissa and her mom so we wouldn't stay separated and headed around the back of the building to finish off the Ilford film in my Holga. There aren't really steps at the back of the Memorial so much as tiers. I lost my sunglasses climbing back up and didn't realize it until I was back around front. Luckily they were still laying there when I got there.
I hung around Lincoln until it was almost dark, then called Melissa and found out they were sitting watching at the water at the other end of the reflecting pool, at the WWII Memorial. By the time I got there it was getting dark. 
The four of us continued across the street to the Washington Monument and then down the hill to the Smithsonian to catch the Metro back into Virginia, where we still had to get a cab to take us three miles to the Tysons Corner Marriott. Having gotten up at 4 AM, and facing the same prospect the next morning, I decided to go along anyway at 10:00 PM for steak at Don Schula's in the hotel...until we saw the price list, but the prime rib French dip sandwich was a great meal just the same.
Lloyd and I finally got back to our double room at 11:15.
I was up and showered by 4:15 AM on the 28th, when I observed the tail end of a overnight traffic influx.
We were supposed to meet in the lobby at 5:00 AM to be bussed to McDonald's for breakfast. I had my folding chair, a few cameras, and a backpack with some snacks and four bottles of water.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that our group's organizer had been previously assured that the restaurant could handle 100 people for a 5:15 AM breakfast, there was only one cash register open. Most of us never got any breakfast, including one older man who had already taken his insulin. He ended up having a bad day.
The buses were able to drop us off in pretty much the same spot at the cab the night before. It's a good thing they used the buses to get us there, because the trains didn't start running early enough to get everyone to the mall on time. We must have gotten there around 6:15, because by the time we were crossing in front of the steps, we could heard the reported 6:30 sound check in which a few thousand people sang God Bless America, an obvious response to this.
The four of us broke away from the main group by the time we were on the south side of the pool, near the Korean memorial. That made it much easier to squeeze in between the people who showed up at 3:00 AM or so, and still get a great view. We were seated by 7:00. By 8:00 Melissa and I walked around to visit the Vietnam wall. After some lively debate with crowd marshalers, we were forced to take the long way around to our seats, and they were blocking people that didn't already had chairs in place.
From 9:59 AM to after 1:00 PM is plenty well documented...
After Dave Roever's closing prayer, we packed up our folder chairs and began the slow, crowded march off the mall, finally making our way to the road on the west side of the Memorial and over the bridge that crosses to Arlington. It was a solid mile under the warm sun, and a lot of people had to find some shade to sit and rest, but Caroline, Melissa and I were determined to get onto the Metro before the line got too long. Lloyd was waiting for us at the top of the escalator, and we were able to make the next train out of Arlington station...but we had to change lines at Rosslyn. It was here that we ran into all the people who had gotten on at earlier stations. As our transfer pulled into the station, we could see it was packed like a sardine can. A very few people got off, but my travel mates decided we were getting on anyway. Melissa literally pulled me in by the strap of my backpack as the doors were trying to close.
We were among the first back to the Dunn-Loring station before 3:00 and our buses were not even there yet. Melissa and Caroline grabbed a cab to Arby's and came back with food for those of us who were early. Back on the bus before 4:00, I made the mistake of sitting in the back row to be across the aisle from my new friends, and later finding out how difficult it is to sleep in a chair that has no recline whatsoever.
Luckily we stopped around 6:30 in Fredrick, MD for some dinner. Having eaten Arby's, I grabbed some Chick-fil-A to take with me for later, but took a couple pics of this gleaming diner. Caroline was nice enough to trade me seats for awhile so I could try to get a nap. Apparently she could sleep okay in the other seat and never let me trade her back. We pulled out of the parking lot just before sunset. Back on the road, I Am Legend played on the bus's TV screen. We stopped again around 11:00. I was sleeping before we pulled in, so I'm not sure where we were, somewhere in WV I presume. Not having long sleeves and the bus's A/C on high, I was one of several people asking the driver to turn it down, which she did.
I think just about everyone slept the rest of the way to Columbus, where we pulled back into the parking lot at 2:30 AM. I was awake enough to drive home with no problems, parking in the driveway around 3:45, and head hitting the pillow...4:00 AM on Aug 29, 48 hours after my alarm clock woke me up.
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