DC Trip day 3 - lines

Finally, Monday was a nice sunny day!  It was a bit brisk in the morning (okay, it was cold), but at least the sun was shining.  

We had two things that we wanted to try and do on Monday.  Or three.  Maybe four.  Anyway, we wanted to try and go to the top of the Washington Monument, we wanted to visit the Holocaust Museum, and we wanted to visit all the monuments on the Mall.  This was our last day in DC and we had a lot we wanted to pack in.  Plus, we had a scheduled Capitol tour at 2:40 with Senator Dick Durbin's staffer.  Lots to do...

So first thing in the morning, we headed straight to the Washington Monument to try and get tickets for the tour/trip to the top.  We had read that the ticket window opened at 8:30, and that during busy periods the line formed as early as 7:00 AM.  We arrived just before 8:30.

Want to know why he's giving the thumbs down?

It's hard to see in this photo, but the line was already very long.  We decided to stick it out and wait, as the line was moving fairly quickly.

This was the line we were waiting in for tickets...

I took this picture while waiting in line.

See how tall he is getting?

Unfortunately, just as we got to the front of the line (we were no more than 10 people from the window), they ran out of tickets. Disappointed, we walked up to the monument to get a picture of the view and to decide what to do.

The view from the Washington Monument, at least the ground.

It was just after 9:00 AM.  We decided to head to the Holocaust Museum, because tickets for it would start to be handed out at 10:00 AM.  We decided to go and see how the line looked.  It was already a block long:

Long lines, cranky 5th grader.

Did I mention it was cold?  The alley between the buildings made it like a wind tunnel.

I did not pack for this!

But, we were successful in sticking out the cold wait and were rewarded with tickets to get in.

Success!

We headed in to the museum right away- thankfully the heat was on so we could warm up as we took in the museum.  Next post, the monuments!