This post contains affiliate links.
Today we are recapping my favorite thing about Washington, DC…the White House!! I think I talked about this a little bit in my Library of Congress post but in order to tour the White House you need to submit a request through your state rep or senator. You can request a tour up to six months in advance or as close as two weeks in advance.
When you submit your tour request you just tell them what days you will be in town and then you get assigned the time and date of your tour. I was glad ours was the first tour of the day, 7:30am, because you can’t take anything with you except your ID, keys, and a credit card and there is nowhere to stow a bag on the grounds. That would have taken too much time to go stash a bag in DC in the middle of the day and then go retrieve it post tour.
We got to DC at 7am and parked in a parking garage a few blocks from the White House. Yes, I drove in DC and it actually wasn’t that scary!! We went to Starbucks and grabbed drinks for the walk and took a selfie of course!
I suggest getting to your tour super early because the line will seriously wrap around the block and I want pics without a million people in them. Life of a blogger, I know.
In order to get in you have to present your ID twice, get sniffed by drug dogs, go through a metal detector, and get patted down. It’s a time consuming process but soooo worth it!!
And then we were in!!
Disclaimer: My pics may seem out of order but in a tour you enter through the back and exit from the front.
The first thing I saw was a statue of Abraham Lincoln and I had to take a pic because birthday twins, duh.
Next we saw the library, my favorite room in any house!!
Next was the Vermeil Room. It contains a collection of european and american vermeil (silver).
The China Room was across the hall and I really wish I could have gone in and gotten a really good look at all the china patterns. I love china!! HA!!
I’m sure you can tell from these pics of a ballroom that I was a little bit chandelier obsessed. I can’t help it though, they were just gorgeous!!
As we walked to the next few rooms, we got a glimpse of the entrance!!!
Next up were the “color rooms”. There is a Green Room, a Blue Room, and a Red Room. I loved all of them!!
We saw the State Dining Room next. It can seat up to 140 people!!
We saw so many presidential portraits while in the White House, duh, but I tool a few pics of my faves. Abe was in the Dining Room (above pic), Kennedy was in the Dining Room as well, Clinton and Bush were in the entrance, and Reagan was in a hallway.
The Family Dining Room was used as an informal dining space by the family until the private residence was redone with another dining room upstairs.
After seeing the dining rooms we headed off to the entrance.
I still can’t believe I was there!!
And I had to take a Clinton selfie because, ARKANSAS!!!
After my Clinton selfie we headed outside…
My reaction to the White House Tour…
And then we just walked out.
And just like that it was over. I still can’t believe I got the chance to tour the White House. And take pics!! I highly encourage anyone who gets the chance to visit to do so!!
Have you visited the White House??
What was your favorite thing to see??
I would have loved to have been there with you! I hope to take the kids on a White House Tour someday. So much history!
Sounds like such a great tour, I would love to tour the white house but am not sure how I would go about it since I am in the UK
This is so fun! I love how you get a history lesson in a building that is presently being used too. Very neat.
Isn’t the White House absolutely amazing? It is such an important place for all of us Americans to visit. My sister worked there a few presidents ago and it was so cool to have an “insider’s tour.”
You guys seemed like you had an amazing time! (Well I bet you guys did!) The White House is surely one of the places that I would love to explore in my lifetime. For now, it’s Europe for me!
Wow I think a White House tour would be so fantastic. I know my oldest who is almost 12 would DIE to do it. Hes obsessed with all things American Politics!
BEAUTIFUL! I’ve never you toured the White House but I think I’m absolutely going to have to now! I have always, always loved the Red Room! What was your favorite?!
I’ve been to D.C. but I have never toured the White House. This looks like so much fun and the library is always my favorite spot too!
I can’t believe either that you have been to the White House! Feels like a huge deal. It’s crazy though that they don’t even have an offsite place to keep your belongings, but I guess that most visitors are pretty well prepared?
We put in our request two months ago for our visit. We can’t wait, specially after your photos and experience!
I would love to tour the White House. The last time I was in DC they weren’t allowing tours.
We did it when I was in 3rd grade back in the 80s, and I remember that line, lol. I also remember we went through the front door if I’m remembering it corectly. I also remember asking my mom if I could sit down on the floor when we were actually on the tour. She was mortified, but it was a lot of standing around.
We loved visiting the White House when we were in DC too!!! So cool to see it up close!
How Cool. I never realized how many rooms – and museum like it was! Love your Clinton Selfie!
We toured the WH a few years ago but would love to do it again. When we did it in 84 was the same day the HOGS was there since they had won the National Championship but we didn’t know they were there til the next day. I would have been stalking them.
I’ve been to DC and I have visited around the WH, but have never actually toured the WH. Definitely on the bucket list of things to do. Thanks for sharing!
It’s wonderful to stand where George Washington stood or even President Teddy Roosevelt himself. I love to see things of the past. Ahhhhh If those walls could talk. What a story that would be. Thanks for sharing.
Ahhh you should have visited me…I only live a few blocks away :) I loved doing the White House tour and this is such an amazing city that I never really appreciated until living down town.