New York Continued. . . . .

The Statue of Liberty

Sunday afternoon we took a ferry to Liberty Island and saw the Lady Liberty herself. She's pretty big! It was blazing hot while we waited in line to get on the ferry and then when we finally got up to the look out point the rain and the wind were intense. Heidi lost her sunglasses off of her head while outside the view point. You are not allowed to go up into the crown since 9/11 but I felt like we got a pretty good view. While I appreciate the history and symbolism associated with the Statue of Liberty, this wasn't my favorite thing we did. Maybe it was the pounding rain and wind.

Ground Zero

Sunday afternoon we walked down to ground zero. It is under construction and so there was'nt much to see except a big fenced off construction area. It was still a very humbling experience though to remember; and I will always remember that fateful day. The plan is to build two reflecting pools in the footprint of where each tower was with the names of those who lost their lives that day engraved on the outer edges of the pool. There will also be a visitors center and a ton of trees which will be nice in the center of New York. I think it is very appropriate not to rebuild the towers but build a memorial instead. As you can tell from the picture below it was a very somber mood all around the site. The other picture shows what the intended outcome will be when the memorial is completed as well as the surrounding areas.

Monday Scott was in a work seminar for most of the day so the rest of us were left to roam the streets of New York and hope that we could find our way back to the hotel at the end of the day. This was also Heidi and Derek's wedding anniversary so they went off on their own to have some time together. They spent almost the entire day at the Museum of Natural History and they both loved it. The rest of us went separately, but sadly we were not as impressed. I don't know what that says about me. . . . . .maybe I just don't care for old stuff. Anyway, it was a huge museum and by about the third floor it was all starting to blur. I did enjoy walking down 5th Avenue where some of the really ritzy shops are located. Again, what does that say about me? I thought it was especially fun to see F.A.O. Schwartz, a giant toy store. It was amazing. And I just continued to marvel at the number of people on the sidewalks, the traffic, and the mammoth size buildings. We were almost always in the shade because the skyscrapers block the sun.

Top picture is Heidi and Derek at the Museum of Natural History with the "Gum, Gum, Dum, Dum, Statue" from Night at the Museum. . . . you know. . . .the movie.

Above picture is Derek, Matthew, Amber, Levi, and Cameron at the Museum of Natural History.

The picture of Cameron and Matthew is at F.A.O. Schwartz next to Harry Potter characters built entirely with Legos!

This picture is a view of the Trump Towers from the sidewalk immediately in front of the building. Amazing!

This picture shows a typical day on the sidewalks of New York City. If you move closer to Times Square the traffic, both on the streets and the sidewalks, is much, much worse.

Believe it or not I'm still not quite done with New York. More later!