We totally did the list of 30+ things to see and do as a start, and then started putting things in days, times, and places and bargaining.
Once we decided we’d do the trip there more than once, we were able to be more picky. For instance: We wanted to visit a President’s house, so if we got the White House, that would qualify. Otherwise, we would go to Mount Vernon. 2/3 of Air & Space was under renovation, so we skipped for trip 2. Arlington House was under renovation, so we skipped all of Arlington for trip 2. Capitol tour was on a Tuesday early afternoon, so we planned for getting our library cards for Library of Congress later that afternoon.
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And depending on when you’re there, the Marine Corp Sunset Parade with the Marine Corp band and the Silent Drill team is VERY cool. We got to see it at Lincoln Memorial, but early summer they’re usually at the Iwo Jima memorial.
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I really enjoy this. Nice small intement tour with good indo. Great balance to the huge museums!
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Well, this is cool. Tomorrow is the day when our preferred Washington Monument tickets will be released. Being a liner, of course I checked out availability for the days before.
This was released two days ago.
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It goes in seconds. You need to use your liner magic. Be on before 10 and keep refreshing. They release a few the day before as well.
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2nd this @Sophia818.
I was able to get them by being logged in before time, using time.gov to watch the seconds move, and clicking the drop down to refresh at the exact moment.
Fingers crossed for you! 
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I plan on doing that, but it looks like I some tickets have been available for two days. I thought I’d share the weird and good news.
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Well, that is interesting. I’ve never seen that!
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Large group is the way to go! The last longer I have found.
At first I thought you got some tickets I realesed. I had 6 for 12:30 on July 7 that I released when I got a better time on the 8th.
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Well, I got my Washington Monument tickets. Yeah! There had been a brief panic where I didn’t remember the password. I really wish they would tell you the password requirements when you are entering an already created one.
The mall will be the first thing we do in DC (probably). Definitely the first thing on the first full day. We will rent scooters (not the ones on the street) for a block of time and tootle all around the mall that morning. I picked a 10:30am time so that we can adjust the order of things around it.
Tickets have been released for 6 minutes and this is what is available. Seems that most people want earliest or latest.
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I wonder if they are releasing a larger amount now.
I remember it being in the 30s when I was looking, with less than 10 available 30 days prior.
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This is for the “large group”. You can actually select under six and still book through the large group link. It had 55 tickets per slot, the first time slot is 30 mins earlier and went much slower.
When I booked through the regular link you were allowed max of 6, there were 30 slots per time and they went within seconds!
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Mount Vernon is really beautiful. I know locals who have gone during all the different seasons to see what they do, for example at Christmas. I haven’t been there then but I have been twice during the warm months. Did your trip happen yet?
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Now that’s an excellent tip!
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I am editing to say “the first t imeslot was 30 mins earlier”. The booking did not open earlier!
But this is definitely the way to go!
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Our last summer vacation got called, “The Ever-growing Vacation.” I kept tacking on more things at the beginning and it ended up being almost 3 weeks. When we got to convention, which was the purpose of the vacation, after about two weeks of being away from home we were pooped and were kinda ready to go home. So I was trying really really hard to not do that this year. We also put the convention at the beginning of this trip.
BUT, I just couldn’t stand it. I tacked on another day at the beginning. We are literally going to be driving by Monticello, and I’m a Thomas Jefferson fan! I even had a crush on him as a teen. The official book is on its way to our house! Trying to figure out which option to choose. Leaning toward the self-guided. But, then I do love a guided tour. I wish they had an audiobook tour.
I think we are going to shoehorn Mount Vernon in there too.
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Trip report. I’ve never managed to fit in Monticello or Mount Vernon and would be interested in seeing photos, hearing your take on things, etc.
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I haven’t been to Monticello since I was a kid/teen. We did Mt Vernon in 2019 and I’ve been there several times before that as an adult and a kid. One of my sons really liked Mt Vernon and I think would like to go back at some point.
I’m waiting to hear on whether we got in the the WH tour at the end of July. We put on for it right away and got the necessary links from our representative’s office within a week. I just need to get Air and Space Museum tickets. Hopefully they won’t conflict.
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