While Hawai'i was just waking up Tuesday to watch the historic inauguration of President Obama, The Advertiser's Dan Nakaso and Kim Fassler were already filing stories in the freezing darkness of the nation's capital.

It was a whirlwind three days for Nakaso, who arrived in Washington at 9 a.m. Monday after a sleepless red-eye flight from Honolulu, bringing with him a business suit, a tuxedo, ties, waterproof boots, wool socks and gloves for his 72-hour sprint. Landing at Ronald Reagan Airport, he went straight to the Longworth House Office Building and waited in line two hours before getting inside to write about Hawai'i visitors bringing omiyage and collecting their tickets for the inauguration.

Nakaso — a journalist for 26 years — and Fassler — a master's candidate at Johns Hopkins University and Advertiser blogger — conducted interviews and produced four videos that day. Nakaso peeled off to the Class of 1979 Punahou reunion while Fassler made her way to the Pearl Inaugural Ball to write stories for the following day's newspaper.

Fassler pushed aside studies for a few days and started posting tweets on Twitter — a social-networking service that produces real-time updates of one's existence — the Saturday before the inauguration. On Sunday, she joined hundreds of thousands at the "We are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial and her press pass allowed her into an area to snap some fantastic photos posted on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/quarterlifecafe).

Then she was off to the "Hawai'i for Obama" ball to take photos, Twitter and write up multiple blog posts. She produced a video interview of Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and recorded the mayors of Honolulu, the Big Island and Kaua'i singing with John Cruz.

On Monday, Fassler and Nakaso conducted their video and print interviews at the House offices of Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono, and that night, Fassler put on her gown and heels and headed to the ball. Nakaso, arriving from his Punahou function by cab, picked Fassler up and they were taken to the Gannett News Service offices where they filed their stories and uploaded about a dozen video clips. Fassler was also posting to her blog and adding another 50 Twitter updates.

Nakaso thought about sleeping in the GNS offices, about two miles from the inauguration site, but took the Metro back to Rosslyn where he was staying, getting to bed around 3:15 a.m. Tuesday. He was awake at 5 a.m. for the big day. Fassler got fewer than three hours sleep before bundling up for 18-degree cold with scarf, hat, gloves, handwarmers and multiple layers of clothing. She shot video and posted tweets before waiting in line for three hours to get into her seating section.

Back in Rosslyn, Nakaso watched three Metros packed with passengers pass him by before he could board. A 15-minute train ride took an hour. He got in line for the inauguration at 6:30 a.m and barely moved for 2 1/2 hours. When he realized he hadn't posted anything for our Web site in two hours, he started searching for news.

Meanwhile, Fassler stood behind barriers just as the ceremony was about to start and she feared not getting into the biggest assignment of her career.

"All of a sudden, the crowd in front of us started to run forward," she said. "Parents with children pulled them back but we rushed forward with the crowd. The gate had either been open or broken but it didn't matter — we were suddenly in. My arms were pinned to my sides because it was so crowded, but I shot another video of the crowd."

Another barricade gave way, and Fassler ran toward the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol. She was closer than ever to the proceedings but in a section that had no Jumbotron, no speakers and no view. Armed with four cell phones (because of spotty service) and a video camera, she started to write in the bitter cold and decided it was better to shoot video instead.

After the inauguration, our reporters took the hourlong walk back to the GNS bureau. Fassler uploaded photos and video, posted to her blog and continued her Twitter updates, assisting Nakaso with quotes and color descriptions for his story. The day was far from over, however, as they had to head back to change for the balls.

While the tuxedo-clad Nakaso was heading over to Fassler's apartment, she saw on CNN that Obama had arrived at the Home States Ball. She ran out of her building in her ball gown, grabbed a cab and impatiently sat in traffic until she realized she needed to get out and run to the Convention Center. She missed Obama but got video of Vice President Joe Biden and singer Jack Johnson.

After the ball, getting a cab was fruitless so the pair walked back to the Gannett bureau and went back to work. Nakaso filed his stories and wrote a note to me at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning after about three hours sleep over the previous three days. Fassler estimated that she filed 150 Twitter updates, dozens of photos, 13 blog entries and footage for about 10 videos.

"This was definitely the hardest assignment I've had in my short journalistic career," she wrote. "There was so much to report, but logistically, reporting was extremely difficult because of transportation difficulties, failure of cell phone carriers, the massive crowds and quite honestly, the weather."

We are proud of both Dan, the veteran, and Kim, a rising star, for covering such a big assignment and serving our readers so exquisitely.

Mark Platte is senior vice president and editor of The Advertiser. Reach him at 525-8080 or post your comments at www.honoluluadvertiser.com.