A Day With Lady Liberty

There has been a lot of excitement going on in our household lately! So much, that our blog has sort of taken a back seat. For this, I apologize. But I am here to redeem myself and thank my faithful blog readers with a new post, complete with pictures!

This past Saturday, we took a day trip with our friends and neighbors, Kevin, Meredith and Faith, to Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. Brant has been here before, but I had not. My family came out to NYC about 12 years ago and I saw the Statue out in the distance, but we did not take a ferry out to visit her. I am happy to report I can check this off of my "East Coast Bucket List" now!

We drove the New Jersey Turnpike into Liberty State Park, where we caught our ferry from. We never had to set foot in NYC. As we were taking a closer look at the map driving into the park, we noticed that the state line between NY and NJ runs across the water. But what I'm about to tell you might rock you just a bit. Everything you ever learned in US History 101 is about to flip upside down. Brace yourself: The Statue of Liberty, is actually located in New Jersey. Its true! Even one of our receipts from the day indicated that the statue is in New Jersey, not New York. Man! All this time, we've been talking down New Jersey, and it has been home to Lady Liberty, herself! It appears New York decided to bully New Jersey out of this claim to fame. Sigh. Anyway, back to the excitement of our day!

It was very strange to me to get out of the car and see The Statue of Liberty rising above rooftops in the near distance; anti-climactic? Yes. She looked so much smaller than I anticipated, and much closer to the city than I had imagined. But, I was told to hold out and wait until we got closer to be truly amazed. And I was.

After passing through the airport-like security, we boarded our ferry for the 5 minute ride to Ellis Island. Prior to exploring the history that surrounded us, we enjoyed a nice lunch in the cafe on location. This was a bit odd, to be sitting in such a historical place, knowing thousands of immigrants had passed through here after such a traumatic journey, while we sipped our sodas and enjoyed our sandwiches. We didn't have time to truly research and find out if and what ancestors of ours came through here, but we were still amazed by those who did.

I think pictures will tell the rest of my story better than my own words can. It was a glorious day and we had such a great time! If you have never visited The Statue of Liberty and an opportunity presents itself, I would encourage you to do so. It is well worth it.

Our first glimpse of Lady Liberty. Do you see what I mean about odd?
Kevin, Brant and Meredith in line for the ferry.
The grand Empire State Building! If you look to the left of the Empire Building and find the next tallest building in the picture, that is 30 Rockefeller, home to NBC. 30 Rock is huge ... just goes to show how enormous the Empire State Building is!
The World Trade Centers should be in the skyline here. They were located right around the center, where you see the orange color and the crane.
Maddie is such a good little traveler. She has been so many places in just 8 months of life!
Ellis Island on the right, and Lady Liberty in the distance.
I thought this was appropriate, particularly looking out on the skyline where the World Trade Centers should be (again, look for the orange-colored building near the center).
So much fun!
We really made it to Ellis Island. I wasn't lying. :)
Brant and Maddie inside the Great Hall.
All six of us, including the girls, Maddie and Faith.
Maddie's little sunhat was sure a hit with fellow passengers. I couldn't agree more!
Welcome to America! Yeah...this wasn't anti-climactic! She was beautiful!!
And you thought we were tall!
I thought we were posing like Lady Liberty...guess I was the only one who got the memo!
I thought this angle looked kind of dramatic against the sunlight.
And finally, Lady Liberty walking toward freedom in America.