What started out as a small trip to D.C. by the Martin Luther King Committee has turned into something massive.

"It mushroomed - now we're having over 1,700 people," said David Prince, vice chairman of the Raleigh MLK Celebration Committee. "We have 15 hotels and we have booked the entire hotels."

The committee and Brad Thompson and Associates, a public relations firm in Raleigh, organized a trip for the inauguration on the 20th. They charged $160 for those going. They'll ride up on buses and stay overnight, and the trip is booked.

"We started planning for this back in the summer after we heard President [elect] Obama, then Senator Obama, in Durham when we first heard him speak," Prince said. "It appears that a lot of people in North Carolina have been interested in the race and the election and want to go to Washington to see the actual inauguration."

Down I-40 in downtown Durham's Blue Coffee Café, friends Travis Lawson and Clarence Harding said they are planning on going alone and staying with family.

"I think fighting the crowd is most definitely something people wouldn't mind doing," Lawson said. "I just know that's where I need to be for that moment in time."

Blue Coffee plans on celebrating, too.

"Blue Coffee Café offered to be the headquarters for the ‘Durham for Obama' people and staff before the national people came to Durham," said Gwen Mathews, owner of the restaurant. "We're planning to show the inauguration and share the experience with some of our customers. We will have flat screen TVs; much like we did for election night.

MORE MEDIA
Watch the NBC 17 News report to see why the café's pound cake will have a special meaning on the 20th for this group.

INTERACT
Tell us if you have plans for inauguration day and share by posting to MyNC.com's community section.