STORY:
Fresh from their Hawaii vacation, the Obamas have returned to Washington today to stay in the famous Hays-Adam hotel.

The family will finally move into the White House on January 20th after Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president.

The construction of the podium where Obama will take the oath of office is already well underway.  

Two hundred and forty thousand people who have tickets will witness the event up close, but the media is estimating record crowds stretching down the national mall.

[Gabriel Turner, Visitor from Tennessee]:
"It's going to be insane to see a city of 700,000 play host to three million and what that entails and the diversity and just the sheer beauty of humanity that's going to be right here and that's what I'm excited about."

Virtually all 9,500 hotel rooms in the city are booked up—and local residents are making money by renting out rooms in their homes.

Security will be tight and whole city blocks will be off limits.