From the top of the Washington Monument

[Mike Buckley]

I have lived in the Washington, DC area since 1972 and had never been to the top of the Washington Monument until yesterday. My wife, who has always lived there, had gone up it only once decades ago when she was a teenager and that was at night. To celebrate our 31st anniversary yesterday, we decided to take the day off and, among other things, go to the top of the monument late in the morning.

We had to reserve the tickets a couple months ago, so we were very lucky that the weather was so clear; considering the temperature and time of year, we were especially lucky that there was relatively little haze.

The Washington Monument was closed for a couple years until last month due to damage that occurred during a small earthquake. Most of the damage was at the very top, above the visitors' level. Earthquakes are highly unusual in the area, so it was a major ordeal that the monument was damaged so much. As an example, that quake is the only one that I've ever felt in this area.

The Washington Monument is 555 feet (169 meters) tall. These photos were taken from the visitors' viewing area. Its floor is at 500 feet (152 meters). We were shooting through plexiglass windows. The last one was captured by my wife and post-processed by me.

Please view at the largest size.

Front to rear: World War II Memorial, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, Potomac River, Rosslyn (Virginia)



Ellipse and White House with downtown Washington DC in the background



Front to rear: Tidal Basin, Jefferson Memorial, Potomac River with Washington Reagan National Airport and Crystal City, Virginia in the background



White House & Lawn

[Digital]

Mike, very nice images.



Bruce

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[chauncey]

The expression goes "familiarity breeds contempt", all too often we overlook our back yard. Thanks for the reminder of those scenes...well done my friend.

Thirty-one years...I made 24...once!

[bnnrcn]

Nice images, they might look nice in color as well

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone! Chauncey, you crack me up!

[Otavio]

Nice views, Mike. Very good compositions and a well balanced post processing. I like all of them. Regards,

[AndrewMcD]

Being only a few hours from WashDC we try to visit a couple of times a year; including our wedding anniversary which falls in December so it's a different city than in June. It has been quite some time since I've been to the top of the Washington Monument; probably 40+ years! You appear to have been fortunate with the viewing conditions for a June afternoon. Very nice images and processing and congrats on the 31 years!
Andrew

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Otavio and Andrew!

Andrew: If you seriously consider going up the monument, the only reliable way of ensuring that space will be available for you is to purchase a ticket online. If I remember correctly, my wife told me that tickets are currently sold out for the next four months and that cost is minimal (free but with a small handling fee).

[Brownbear]

Happy Anniversary to you and yours!

All great, but I especially love the 1st image for the composition. Wow!

[Kaye Leggett]

Good shout for an anniversary, my belated congrats too.

The first image is particularly good

[bnnrcn]

Good effort , you have made me laugh Boyer

The expression goes "familiarity breeds contempt", all too often we overlook our back yard. Thanks for the reminder of those scenes...well done my friend.

Thirty-one years...I made 24...once!

[bnnrcn]

Belated congratulations Mike

[John 2]

I missed these. Congratulations all round Mike - anniversary and images. Just excellent.

[Marie Hass]

These images are perfect. I love the black and white.

Congrats to you and the wife on your anniversary.

If you get the chance, go see the old Glen Echo amusement park. There was also a very good restaurant next to it.

Marie

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to everyone. I passed along your well wishes regarding our anniversary to my wife.