Michael Garvin still has his ticket, a purple one, from Tuesday’s presidential inauguration.

Garvin was one of the more than 1 million people, some with better views than others, who bundled up against the chill to watch in person as Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.

“It was great,” Garvin, the mayor of Guyton, said. “It was a great experience.”

With a purple ticket, Garvin was supposed to have a much better seat than what he eventually settled for, closer to the Washington Monument at the far end of the National Mall.

“I had a ticket to be up in the purple section, but I couldn’t even get through,” he said. “I didn’t get to use it.”

He was supposed to be on the Pennsylvania Avenue side, but that was quickly blocked off. So he went around to try to find another spot to see the inauguration.

“It took me two or three hours to get from 4th Street to 15th Street,” he said.

So he stood near the Monument, watching the proceedings on a Jumbotron — and trying to stay warm.

“It was exciting,” said Garvin, who took his daughter along. “It was an experience. It was a very diverse group out there. It was something to see.”

Garvin went up Sunday, since he had to pick up his ticket Monday morning, but rode back on a bus with a contingent of Effingham County residents who also traveled to D.C. for the event.

“There were about 20 or so residents from Guyton, Springfield and Rincon who went,” he said. It was something to see, I can say that.”

Garvin also had four layers of clothes on to keep the biting cold from taking a bite out of him Tuesday morning. As for the ticket, still whole from not being used?

“It will go in my historical collection,” he said.