Steve,
Sorry, yes, I do mean we picked up the permit the day before we started our hike from Cottonwood Lakes.
We had originally tried for the lottery, didn't get it. I checked the website often for cancellations, but still didn't find any for the days we were available. So, we picked a date, and decided to try for a walk in permit. Our plan was, if we weren't able to get a Whitney permit, we would do some other backpacking trip in the area anyway.
A few days before we left there were about 8 cancellations for the exit date we wanted, but no Cottonwood Lakes entry permits available, so I still wasn't able to reserve online in advanced, but it seemed pretty promising we would get what we wanted with a walk-in. We showed up at 11am sharp, were second in line, and got the permits we wanted without a problem.
The trip was great, but we ran into some horrible weather on our summit day, unfortunately. We made it over the Trail Crest to get back to our car, but skipped the summit (people were talking about their hair standing on end, so I'll pass on that).
