<p>My family sat a couple of rows behind the Nixon family at the circus when I was quite young. I seem to remember that this was when Eisenhower was president and Richard Nixon was vice president, however. My parents pointed out Julie and Trisha to my brother and me. Years later, we saw a motorcade go by and caught a glimpse of Jackie Kennedy.</p>
<p>hayden–you just have to pay for these lunches and things. We wanted to give money to the Obama campaign anyway. Might as well get a hug. He glowed too, great charisma, and seemed so sweet. After I hugged him, I thought, “oops, was I supposed to do that?”, but it seemed ok.</p>
<p>My son, who was on a campus in Iowa during the 2008 campaign saw everyone. They came to all of the campuses. His preference was Biden, but he said that Obama was an amazing speaker.</p>
<p>hayden-DD attends GWU-and her dorm is 3 blocks from White House. There is a 24 hr 7-11 downstairs from her dorm and all sorts of lawmen show up there at all hours-from Metro Police to Secret Service. And, you are correct, the Secret Service have no sense of humor when on duty.</p>
<p>We’ll just try to redirect son’s ambitions!</p>
<p>DD went to an inaugural ball last week. Saw Biden make an appearance… about 45 minutes later, when POTUS & Michelle O hadn’t shown up yet, D and her friends went off for a drink… at which point POTUS and Michelle O walked right by them on their way to the stage. DD was too amazed by the proximity to react… just sort of ‘basked’ in the fact of being just a few feet away.</p>
<p>bethievt, thanks for the details. Regardless of how, it’s still wonderful for you! As for your son, he may get his chance to vote for his preference yet.</p>
<p>As for me, I may take BCEagle’s idea and move to NH…</p>
<p>Saw Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the Royal Family at the official birthday celebration in June 2008. Actually have close up pics of the Queen! </p>
<p>DH had three bankruptcy classes with Liz Warren. She and I were in a musical production together and I also made her costume.</p>
<p>Biden used to commute from Wilmington to the Senate. He was a regular on Amtrak and seeing him on the train apparently was no big deal.</p>
<p>dowerz -my son attended GW also! When he was there, a fire started in one of the dorms (apparently one of the freshman decided it would be a great idea to barbecue on the fire escape in the middle of the night, but lit the grill on top of his bed…). The college paper reported that “authorities” had spotted the fire and reported it. It later came out that the authorities were some members of the Secret Service who were passing by.</p>
<p>Our son said that he saw too amazing student demonstrations in the streets (not the injury kind, more like the everyone running wild through the streets and not hurting anyone kind). One was the 2007 election, with both sides taking to the streets; and the second was when the Boston Red Sox won the pennant. Good old GW. It would have been cool to have been there when we got Osama Bin Laden, and everyone massed outside the White House chanting USA USA. Was your D there then?</p>
<p>Hayden, my son is still psyched about Biden. He pointed out everything his favorite had been doing right, last time I talked to him. I’d go for Hillary if she runs next. Time for a woman, imo.</p>
<p>My sister met Bill and Hillary when they visited USAID projects. When I say met, it was a handshake, very much like my hug with Obama. These were not close personal encounters. If I ever get to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom, I’ll start my own thread. Haha!</p>
<p>CountingDown, I saw the Queen once, too. I was standing on the side of a small road in London at night, when a big black car drove by very slowly. I was standing under a street lamp, and as the car rolled by, I looked in. Queen Elizabeth was sitting in the seat nearest me, about 3 feet away, with Prince Philip on her other side. The really cool part was she was dressed for a state affair, and was dressed in that famous white dress, with the Order of the Garter sash - and wearing her crown. I have to admit it was amazing.</p>
<p>I have certainly not seen the Queen but I must say I was impressed by the video played at the Tower of London of her coronation. I’ll never know what she’s like as a person, but it really seemed like she was taking on some kind of sacred duty. What do I know about it–absolutely nothing–but I was moved somehow by what seemed like her total commitment. Despite the great wealth, not a job I’d want!</p>
<p>I was in the crowd when Truman stumped in my neighborhood for JFK. Shook the hand of John Lindsay when he showed up at a demonstration at my college.</p>
<p>Met Margaret Mead. Floyd Patterson was picking up luggage from the same airport carousel as me. Hung out watching football one Sunday with Ken Burns, who was a former student of a friend of mine. Was introduced to Aaron Copeland. Was at a college party with Norman Mailer, and watched him drunkendly head out the door with a young college woman. Had lunch with Ashley Montagu. Partied with Iggy Pop before he was famous.</p>
<p>S2 is also a GW grad, who was outside the White House after the 2008 election. I think he was working on a paper when they got Osama bin Laden, so he stayed in his dorm room (it was the end of the semester, after all). He frequented that 7-11 his frshman year, but never said anything about seeing Secret Service (not that he would’ve said anything if he did). </p>
<p>He stayed in DC post-graduation and has become a jaded Washingtonian. After having been to the inauguration in 2009, he stayed home this time preferring a quiet day off from work. He did recently get to tour the West Wing…his biggest comment was that all those rooms (Oval Office, press briefing room, Roosevelt Room, etc) are smaller than he thought they’d be.</p>
<p>hayden- you’ve piqued my curiosity since no one’s officially thrown their hat into the ring for 2016 yet…you must be ‘in the know’ ;). Do keep us posted!</p>
<p>We spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket Island. It’s off season, but not totally deserted. Vice President Biden goes there for Thanksgiving too–he’s been doing this for 20-some years. Anyway–when he’s there, we almost always see him downtown walking around. This year, he was leaving a store as we were going inside; my oldest D and son-in-law said hello. He stopped and chatted and waited while I got my iphone out and took photos of them–he was very friendly. </p>
<p>It wasn’t hard to identify the Secret Service. In fact, it’s hard to miss them. These guys were big–think professional football players. Plus, they were wearing suits and no one else was dressed that way. They also had some type of earpieces and were speaking into something that looked like a wrist watch. Biden’s entourage drove around the island in Lincoln Navigator SUVs–with dark, dark windows. Picked up my youngest at the the airport and saw Airforce 2 and another huge military-type plane. Asked someone about the plane and found out that it was a cargo plane that was carrying the Lincoln Navigators!</p>
<p>No presidents except in a couple motorcades, but had a lovely up-close-and-personal encounter with the first dog, Bo, last month while on the White House tour. He is very friendly and well behaved. He even posed for photos with us. The Christmas decorations were beautiful, but Bo was the highlight!</p>
<p>nice story, musmom2 
I’d enjoy meeting Bo… I’d also really enjoy meeting First Granny… MO’s mother, whose life seems to me to be an amazing only-in-America kind of story…</p>
<p>One of the secret service people told me that more people ask about Bo during White House tours, than ask about the first family! You really hit the jackpop, musmom2.</p>
<p>Yalemom, no one, and I mean no one is in the know about who is running for president until everyone knows it. Even if they hire staff, you never know until they announce, since many set up exploratory efforts then decide against it.</p>
<p>I saw Bush Sr. when he spoke at my college in 1980. DH is in a photo with Laura Bush taken inside the White House. DD1 shook Biden’s hand while overseas. I saw Air Force 2 multiple times parked on the tarmac, and have seen several motorcades around DC and helicopters flying in from Camp David.</p>
<p>I saw Hilary speak at a college graduation; that was the longest afternoon of my life. </p>
<p>LOL at the tags on this thread: "learn<em>to</em>proofread, off<em>topic</em>much? "</p>
<p>Used to live about ~20 miles from Camp David and was used to seeing helicopters around. </p>
<p>I saw President Obama speak this summer at a small grassroots event. About 1,000 people were there. We had standing tickets but it was still an amazing experience.</p>