Tom & Jill's Circle The USA Trip
First Half - Page Two
September 16th - Mid October
Wednesday September 16th
Croton Point Park Campground,
on the Hudson River
about 40 miles north of New York City
Holy Moley Batman, the Big Apple tried to swallow us non-city folks whole, but it didn't win, we did!!! We started the day early, at the train station a little after 7am, and caught the 7:20 from Croton to Grand Central Station. First thing is very apparent, finding a seat that the two of us could sit together was just NOT gonna happen. But Jill shoved us into one of the last side by side possibilities, and much to our delight all we had to look at was the bulkhead between cars, no view at all... So for about an hour we twiddled our thumbs until the doors opened and the staff shewed us out the door into the reality of a downtown NYC train/subway/zoo and we had to hit the pavement running as we were about to be run over by a half million two legged animals wearing headphones that could care less if you ended up as a stain on their shoes. Upon being herded by these animals into the main Grand part of Central Station we finally had an opening to duck into cover and catch our breath, Pretty cool I must say, not as fancy as some of the stations in Europe, but on American standards it was picture worthy. After asking about 3 groups of NYC's finest, we figured out how to get to the subway, and the green 5 line that ends up in Bowling Green, where the tours boats to Liberty Island disembark from. And once we survived that part of our morning,,,, way off in the distance the lady kind of showed herself, the object of our Bucket List, Item #2, The Statue Of Liberty...
So as we were ahead of schedule by about an hour or so, we were so happy when they told us we could board the next boat heading to the island. AWESOME!!! The tour boat ride goes really fast, and we were soon on Liberty Island with the statue right there in front of us in full glory. We had heard that the is not really that big, and I have to agree from Bowling Green she is not that impressive, but when your standing right in front of her she is AMAZING. And the whole history thing, including how she was made, the people that have passed her, the importance of her message, just makes you kind of whimper like a baby in many ways. Words just do not do justice to the feelings that overwhelm you when standing in front of such an important piece of American history!!!
After spending more time than we thought on Liberty Island, we decided to skip Ellis Island and head to the next bucket list item on our list... Granted it is September the 16th and not the 11th, which would have been WAY COOL, but close enough to 25 years later that this was a MUST for us while in lower Manhattan. The memorial where the twin towers stood is a sacred spot, and while here you get goose bumps thinking about how we were all glued to the TV in disbelief when they fell to the ground consuming so many lives, and really an entire country. Outstanding memorial, one that we will remember for a long long time! AFter this we figured how to make our way back to the subway, back to Grand Central Station, and once again asking an officer of the blue where to find the right track terminal, we were on our way back to the campground. All in all, almost 9 hours of every emotion you can dream of, thing we will never forget, and on so many levels a day that will be special for the rest of our lives!!!!
