New York!!

OK, so. No school, no plans, crazy traffic, crowds and road closing predicted, and daddy has these hotel bonus points he has to use before February or he loses them, so what else could we do? Road trip!

Kelly and I packed a few things and hopped in the car to New York. We hoped to see the Statue of Liberty (Inauguration substitute -- spirit of America and all that), the Empire State Building, do some bargain shopping and get some creme brulee before heading home.

We arrived at Liberty Park in New Jersey 15 minutes before our ferry was to depart. At that point, it was overcast, but there was some visibility.



By the time we parked (got charged $10), walked to the check in, went through security (including Kelly having to remove her boots!), made it out to the docks and missed the ferry, then went back in, got our parking fee refunded and moved the car to the closer, free parking lot, went back in, took pictures, looked for salvage from the flight that landed in the river the day before, went through security again (again with the boots -- did they forget us?) and got back to the dock, visibility was next to nothing.


But did we care? No! We plunged into the icy waters (well the boat did) and traversed the mighty Hudson to stop first at Ellis Island (where we disembarked only to take pictures in front of the sign) and then at Liberty Island.



(The following picture, by the way, was not taken in black and white -- it was just that grey out.)

(As we had only one shot at Liberty -- since we missed the earlier ferry -- we gave up the Ellis visit. We figured we'd go back to Ellis Island with Sam, who would appreciate all the museum-type attractions available. We also figured we'd try for a sunny, warm day.)

We spent an hour or so touring the statue. The body of the statue is closed to visitors, but there is a museum in the base and tourists can climb the 156 steps in the pedestal to a viewing platform and observation deck. The viewing platform, essentially, looks up Lady Liberty's skirts. How wude.

The observation deck, overlooks Liberty Park, where tourists from such foreign countries as Poland, Canada, Chile and, seriously, Vermont, had tramped out their country's name in the snow. So, did Vermont secede? And Ohio. They were listed also. Hmmm.

We found it interesting that the designer of the statue was a leading French abolitionist and that Lady Liberty is standing on broken shackles to represent the United States' emancipation of the slaves. That, combined with Ellis Island as a gateway for people from all over the world to come and be welcomed and sheltered by the United States, served as an appropriate way for us to commemorate Tuesday's auspicious inauguration.


We caught the last ferry back to Joisey, then slipped through the Holland Tunnel (where I got lost, as usual, on the Manhattan side coming out and had to deal with Brooklyn-bound, rush-hour traffic) and scooted up to our hotel. But for that story, you will have to wait until tomorrow. To keep you entertained until then, here is a video, with commentary, of the Hudson river.




See you tomorrow!