Bay Area Republicans attend inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Hundreds of thousands of people will be at the inauguration for Donald Trump Monday in Washington, D.C, including many Republicans from the Bay Area.

"It's very active, tons of security, everything is fenced off," said John Dennis, the former Chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party.

Sunday night, he was heading to a ball organized by the California GOP to celebrate the inauguration.

"As you can see I'm just inside the Capitol area. There's lots of fencing and fencing around. I'm standing outside the St. Johns Church. This whole area is sectioned off, but there is a ton of activity," said Dennis.

Jeff Burns is Chairman of the Contra Costa County Republicans. Burns and his wife also will join the nearly 350 Republicans from California at the ball.

Bay Area Republicans were hoping to see the president speak in person, but the freezing cold weather changed that.

"I'd be lying if I was saying that I'm not disappointed --that we can't be outside on the steps of the Capitol, but it is really cold. I was outside today, and it was snowing," said Burns.

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Dennis and Burns plan to watch the inauguration at the Capitol One Arena.

Protests are expected in Washington, D.C. because of Donald Trump taking office for a second time.

"That's part of politics in the United States. There's protesters here. I know there's protesters back in San Francisco," said Burns.

Burns said despite those protests, it's important to look to the future and work together.

"We're all Americans. We will row oars together to keep this country moving," said Burns.

Dennis and Burns acknowledge that President-Elect trump faces some big challenges.

"This is historic on a lot of levels. He's the second president and the only one since Cleveland to sit out the term and come back. He is facing unprecedented federal debt which many of us think is the biggest issue facing us. He's made big promises on deporting illegal immigrants in the country. There's a lot of work to do. At the same time, I think Donald Trump has made a lot of promises about what he'll do and I think he'll do it. He's the man for the moment," said Dennis.