Like the Lincoln Memorial, we have been to the Washington Monument multiple times. We tried to get tickets to up to the top, but we were unable to acquire them. FYI – the free tickets are given out really fast, as in gone in microseconds. If you plan on visiting DC, plan ahead.

Because we could not get tickets, I found the pictures from 2008 when Mom and John visited us. I intermixed the 2008 pictures with pictures from 2026 and added notes to the bottom of the picture with the year.

This is the view from afar. I liked this picture because you can easily see 50 flags surrounding the monument.

(The picture on 2008 was taken from about here. The 2026 picture was taken just up the path from here. You will have to go back to return to this page.)

Fun facts

To get to the top of the monument, you take a 70 second elevator ride. If the elevator stops working, there is no need to worry. Once they get the door open, which might take a awhile (hopefully, no one is claustrophobic), you can take the emergency steps down. At the worst, it is 897 steps. At least you will be going down, not up. At the top was a 360 degree indoor observatory with windows.

The best 2026 pictures for last