Visit the gate of Cabrillo National Park in San Diego and you'll see the impact of the government shutdown firsthand.
A barricade of yellow tape and plastic signs warns drivers, bikers, and walkers that the park is closed.
However, hundreds of cars and trucks made their way all the way to the monument’s doorstep Thursday just to be turned around.
“My kids were very excited to see it,” said Nithya Shankar, whose family traveled from Minnesota and specifically put the monument on their to-do list.
The national park includes access to the Old Point Loma Lighthouse which can be seen on the peninsula from San Diego Bay. Other popular points of interest are the tidepool trail and the old military buildings along the edge of Point Loma.
People from Indiana, Vermont, and Germany were at the park’s entrance Thursday and all of them expressed disappointment.
“It’s not nice. I don’t appreciate it. I think they should open it,” said 9-year-old Benjamin Abergel from Washington, D.C.
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“Our government doesn’t seem to care about them,” said Marjory Clyne who frequently bikes to the monument’s lighthouse from her Tierrasanta home.
Clyne said she was frustrated seeing the countless cars turned away.
“Only for the lack of responsibility that our elected officials don’t seem to have the rest of us,” she said.
Congress failed to vote on a resolution to the partial government shutdown during a session Thursday, NBC News reported.
Both sides have failed to find a resolution to the impasse over President Donald Trump's demand for a border wall. With no votes scheduled, NBC News reports the shutdown was widely expected to continue into the new year.
