East Trip: Statue Of Liberty

 

We know it’s been forever and ever since we’ve posted anything about our East Trip…but we haven’t forgotten, and still want to tell you all about it, for our own sake (reliving grrreat memories!) and for your sake, since we promised you we would 😀

 

It’s been exactly a year ago today that we left for our big trip out East…we can’t believe it!  Every once in awhile we’ll tell each other “I miss our trip!”  Especially after spending the weekend at Brown County State Park, and the hills down there reminded us a little of the Smokies 😀

 

Our last post was about Connecticut and Boston…and if you want to catch up on what we have posted on our trip, you can go to ‘Categories’ on the side and click on ‘East Trip’ 😉

 

After we said goodbye to our dear friends in Connecticut, we headed for…

 

 

…the Statue of Liberty!

 

We went the New Jersey way, not wanting to drive through New York City (well, we girls thought it would be neat, but understood why Daddy and Mommy didn’t want to 😉 )

Driving through Jersey City was a little interesting, not too bad, though…we got to go under the Hudson River through this tunnel 🙂  That was a fun experience!

 

This is a picture of us, while under the Hudson River 😉

 

Our first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty was kind of amazing…she was actually smaller than we imagined her to be, we didn’t expect half her height to be her pedestal…but it was thrilling to see her with your own two eyes, not just in a picture 😀

This was how she looked when we first saw her…

 

 

 

 

It was extremely (and we mean EXTREMELY) windy at Liberty State Park. Never, never, never have we experienced this kind of wind, except for when we have tornadoes, and then we are in the basement so we don’t really get to ‘experience’ that 😀  These flags were snapping away…it was a pretty sight!

 

 

Here’s a short video we got of them snapping in the wind…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h792n8s1N4I&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was this arbor at the park that was so pretty…

 

 

 

…and perfect for taking pictures in.

 

 

 

 

 

Charissa, Noah, Isaiah and Bekah, relaxing 😀

Speaking of relaxing, this was a very relaxing stop.  Hardly anyone was around, and we could look around and take our time.

 

 

 

The water was very choppy (to match the windy weather!)

 

 

 

We didn’t get to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, so we didn’t see the front of her, but she was still amazing.  Some of us thought a ride on the choppy waves would be kinda fun…some did not 😉

 

 

You can see how windy it was here…Noah’s hair is blowing straight up 😀

 

Fun on Liberty Walk…

….that’s New York City in the background!

 

 

 

‘Twas just as amazing for us to see the NYC skyline as it was to see Liberty 🙂

 

Of course, we had to take some funny pictures as well 😀

Bekah did very well balancing Liberty on her finger…

 

Susannah held her between both hands…

 

…and Jessica tried taking off with her!

 

She balanced very well on Cassia’s hand 🙂

 

{Charissa, Liberty and Bekah}

 

She must be getting pretty heavy!!!

 

{Anna}

 

More of Liberty Walk…

 

The wind wasn’t just windy, it was damp and salty, too…it felt like our palms were sweaty, but they were just damp!  We loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked down the Liberty Walk to the railroad station that so many refugees came to, straight from Ellis Island as the brochure says:

 

‘With American currency and admittance papers in hand, and, for many, train tickets pinned to their clothes, immigrants boarded barges waiting to take them to the mainland.  Two-thirds of those passengers processed at Ellis Island landed at the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal in Jersey City.  Here they were led to the trains that would take them to their new homes.

 

It was fun, and a little sobering, to imagine being an immigrant here.   Especially since some of our ancestors very likely were here. The terminal was closed the day we came, so all was very quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

The Terminal.

 

 

Wooden ‘bricks’ made the walkway…

 

{more of the terminal}

 

 

 

See all the wooden blocks making the walkway in front of the terminal???

 

 

How many pictures do we need of the Statue of Liberty?!  You can tell that everyone wanted to take pictures of her 😉

 

Oh yes…and remember how we weren’t going to drive through New York City???  We took a wrong turn, and well, we drove through part of Manhattan 😀  We girls were ecstatic!   We saw the Empire State Building, while driving by, but it’s ‘head was in the clouds’ 😀

 

Come back tomorrow to see the lovely house we stayed at in Princeton, New Jersey that night!

 

 

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless,

tempest-tossed to me

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Emma Lazarus

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