Washington DC: White House Fall Garden Tour

Posted on October 25, 2015 By Joe Hardenbrook

Back in the summer after snagging a cheap Southwest Airlines flight to DC, I still knew it would be hard to get tickets to tour the White House for our trip in October. Arriving on a Friday and leaving on a Monday night only left one possible day for a White House tour – Saturday – as no tours are conducted on Sundays and Mondays.

Sure enough, when Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office called I wasn’t surprised, nor even disappointed, that we would not be able to get tickets. However, there was a silver lining! It happened to be the weekend of the White House Fall Garden Tours. The senator’s office wanted to know if we were interested in tickets. Yes!

So we weren’t able go inside the White House, but we were able to tour the grounds. It was amazing! The morning of the tour we walked over towards the Treasury Department and lined up. At the appointed tour time, we were ushered in, went though security, and voila–there we were standing among things you only see on TV:

The Truman Balcony

White House Fall Garden Tour, Truman Balcony

The Rose Garden

White House Fall Garden Tour, Rose Garden

The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden

White House Fall Garden Tour, Jacqueline Kennedy Garden

South Lawn of the White House

White House Fall Garden Tour, South Lawn

Friendly volunteers pointed out White House landmarks and told a few historical stories, too. What a great time! For more DC photos, check out my Flickr album.