30 miles in Pennsylvania
179 miles in New Jersey
46 miles in Delaware
Our destination for today was one of the most anticipated of our trip: The Statue of Liberty! The children were all familiar with this well-known symbol of freedom, so we knew our trip through New York would need to include a visit to the statue.
We left the Thiriots home in Pennsylvania and were on the road by 8:40 a.m. With one brief bathroom stop, we made it to Liberty State Park in New Jersey by 11:25 a.m. Interesting enough, if you are driving to see the statue, then you drive and park in New Jersey, then ride the ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island, which are part of New York. If you are using public transportation to see the statue, then you come from the New York City side.
We had reserve tickets to go through security at noon. We made it through the airport-style security quickly and were able to immediately board the noon ferry to Ellis Island.
Riding the ferry to Ellis Island.
Getting our first views of Lady Liberty while on the ferry.
We also had a great view of the New York City skyline. The tallest tower is One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower. It is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex, and is 1,776 feet tall.
The first ferry ride took us to Ellis Island. They have converted the island into an immigration museum, and it was very interesting to tour.
This was in the second floor registration room. On many days, over 5000 people would file through this room.
We spent some time browsing the interesting exhibits and picking out souvenirs. We could have spent more time int he museum, but the kids didn't last too long. Then we headed outside for the next ferry ride.
View of the statue from Liberty Island.
On board, waiting for the ferry to depart.
Adam was fascinated by the water.
We landed on Liberty Island and walked around the base of the statue. It was very hot and sunny and pretty crowded, so we only made it halfway around the statue. We had a great view and it was pretty exciting to be at such an impressive landmark!
Then we boarded the ferry for the return to the New Jersey shore.
This is a New Jersey memorial for those who were lost on 9/11.
At this point we were happy to get back in our air conditioned vehicle. We had a few hours of driving, on the New Jersey Turnpike (which is the widest and busiest toll road in the USA). Our timing was good and we didn't have any traffic slowdowns. We picked up pizza for dinner at Sam's Club, and made it to our hotel in Dover, Delaware.
These carts were very handy for hauling our stuff in and out of hotels everyday. Adam loved to ride on them when he could.
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