WASHINGTON — They traveled across an ocean and a continent, suffered through an overwhelmed subway system and stood in line for hours in brutal cold yesterday so they could witness the inauguration of a son of Hawai'i to the highest office in the land.

Even Island residents who got up before sunrise yesterday only to be turned away after waiting for hours in 20 mph winds and a wind-chill factor of 18 degrees said they would do it again.

"People from all over the world watched it and to be here is really exciting," said Ben Lowenthal, a lawyer from Peahi, Maui, who had a ticket to yesterday's inauguration of Barack Obama but could not get in. "I'm happy I made the trek from Hawai'i."

And those Hawai'i people who actually saw Obama sworn in as America's 44th president?

"It was very moving to see Hawai'i's own," said Donna Hoshide, of Kahala, who wore a silk plumeria flower over her left ear at the ceremony. "It was an awesome experience. It was totally uplifting to know that we have this kind of leadership for us in our nation."

Getting to the inauguration with more than a million other people in the dark and in the cold was unlike anything seen in Hawai'i.

Thousands of passengers clogged D.C.'s Metro system, prompting transit officials to close several stops on the way to the inauguration site.

Trains full of passengers stopped and opened their doors at several stations, but there was no room to handle the hundreds of people trying to get on board.

At Capitol South, the stop nearest Capitol Hill, workers shut down the escalators for traffic control as thousands of people jammed the platform and even more people poured out of inbound trains.

A Metro worker got on the subway public address system and yelled to the tightly packed, off-loading passengers, "Walk through the gate, walk through the gate. Keep it moving, keep it moving — you're doing great, people."

Passengers inside the station picked up her chant and repeated each phrase: "Walk through the gate. Walk through the gate. Keep it moving. Keep it moving."

After several minutes, the Metro worker added Obama's catch phrase to the chanting, which the crowd repeated.

"Walk through the gate." "Yes we can!"

"Keep it moving." "Yes we can!"

Once outside, hundreds of people who did not have inauguration tickets sprinted across the Capitol Mall, hoping to get the best spots to watch the inauguration from the unreserved public viewing area.

Those who did have color-coded tickets for specific viewing areas were told to stand in one line after another and some started cutting in line, angering those who had waited.

Retired Circuit Court judge Marie Milks encouraged Hoshide to push herself outside of her comfort zone and quickly switch lines, which got them into the "purple" section for the ceremony.

"I guess that's what you have to do," Hoshide said.

Don Brown, from Wai'alae Nui Ridge, got a ticket in the blue section from a distant relative from Louisiana.

He left his friend's home at 5:30 a.m. only to discover that "the streets were all blocked off. It was kind of hectic. Then people kept giving us the wrong directions to get to the blue gate. We ended up going an hour out of our way."

While others with tickets were turned away, Brown made it into the inauguration area just in time.

"Was it worth it? It was the excitement of being there when history is being made," Brown said.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, an Obama family friend and early supporter, sat on the stage where Obama took the presidential oath of office yesterday.

Obama then gave an inaugural speech that impressed Abercrombie.

It was economical in its phrasing, Abercrombie said, short on rhetoric but strong on its message to Americans and to the world.

As Obama's words bounced around the gigantic video screens around the capitol and into the ears of the million-plus viewers, "a wave of energy came back up to the platform," Abercrombie said.

For Mayor Mufi Hannemann, "the high point for me was seeing him take the oath of office. That's when it really hit home, a man from our islands is now going to fundamentally change the way American people view all of us (in Hawai'i).

"It was also the fact that his election was so historic, not just being the first African-American but the first person of color. It's going to fundamentally change the way we are viewed for those who aspire to positions in the public or private sector."

One-third of a group of Le Jardin students and their chaperones didn't see Obama's speech in person because of the discomfort from the 31-degree weather.

They gave up waiting in line in the cold and instead watched the inauguration on television inside the Natural History Museum.

"Eleven of our 34 people moved inside," said teacher Julia Fahey, who was leading the group and stayed outside.

Fahey called the 23 students and parents who braved the cold "big troupers."

They included Casey Doyle, a 12-year-old Le Jardin seventh-grader.

"I am freezing and my toes are like ice cubes," Casey said before the inauguration began. "I want to stay here because the reason we came was for the inauguration. It's pretty amazing."