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 bear witness to the inauguration of the first Son of Hawai'i to assume the highest office in the land.

Even Island residents who got up before sunrise yesterday and waited for hours in 20 mph winds and below-freezing temperatures only to be turned away 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 Beach, who wore a silk plumeria flower in 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."

Those who had 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 found out only yesterday that he would get a blue section ticket through 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 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.

Obama then gave an inaugural speech unlike any other Abercrombie has heard from a new president.

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

As Obama's words bounced around the gigantic video screens and speaker systems 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 Honolulu 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 did not get to 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 TV 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."