June 28, 2009
9:00 AM: We finally wake up from the first exhausting stretch of our journey. The cats are settled in the hotel room and everyone is hungry. We quickly get dressed and head toward the complimentary breakfast buffet. To our dismay, all of the dishes are Styrofoam and all of the eating utensils are plastic. For a family of four, this equates to a lot of non-biodegradable toxic gas and waste. And hotels all across the country use these products!!
We quickly eat and depart from the hotel, heading Southeast towards the New Jersey ferry, which will take us to Ellis and Liberty islands. Our time of departure: 11:30AM. New Jersey is packed from top to bottom with houses behind walls and trees. Every inch of it is covered with civilization. The air is sticky in the summer and all we want to do is get through it. It is not that simple though. You may think that there would be a street without stoplights at every block intersection on a highway. Not in New Jersey. There is a concrete island separating opposing lanes as well. If you miss your turn-off, you will have to find the nearest extra side lane to turn onto, turning right to go left and back again. It is all we can do to just get through to the docks.
After a series of left and right turns, weaving our way through the potholes of the industrial section, we have finally reached our destination. My, there are a lot of old trucks and box cars. Without our Navigon 2100Max we would have never found our way to the port of New Jersey through the warehouse district outside of Liberty Island. Our time of arrival is at approximately 1:30PM.
Finding what little shade we can, JP parks the van and trailer parallel to the curb. We roll our windows down a bit for air flow. Leaving a bowl of water and food for the cats, we lock the doors. Gathering our camera, diapers, money, keys, phone, and children, we head towards the docks.
Upon arriving to the gate, we find our place in line and wait for the ferry to let us on. Through the winding path we weave towards the dock entrance. As we walk, Quinn notices that the bricks are made of wood. This part of town is very old and we see that there are also deserted train tracks which used to be where imported goods were transferred onto rail cars for delivery across America. Much has changed since then and these rails are covered with rust and the ground is overgrown with weeds.
Finally our turn arrives and we board the ferry. The heat is intense and we seek seating on the upper floor to take advantage of the breeze. Looking across the bay we see New York City and all of its smoggy glory, minus the two towers, of course. This is the first time that I have been to New York since 1996, when I attended Pratt Institute, for a semester. For JP, it has been even longer.
Looking at the water, we certainly would not like to fall off the ferry into that murky abyss. As the ferry departs from the New Jersey side, we find four seats in the center of the top floor. Quinn sees people around us eating hotdogs and pretzels and JP and he decide to go down to the concession stand to get ours.
Kaya and I sit patiently, as the sun beats down from above. The wind picks up a little as the ferry begins to move, giving us some relief, and a man announces over the intercom that we will be first docking at Ellis Island, and then Liberty Island. Ten minutes pass by and I become worried that the boys have gotten stuck below, but soon we see Quinn weaving his way to us. JP is nowhere to be found, but Quinn says that he is coming up with hotdogs. He does not want to sit behind the Captain’s box, and stands dangerously close to the roped drop off on the left.
As we near Ellis Island, JP arrives with four hotdogs and some soda and water. “They are out of pretzels at the moment,” he says, “because the person in front of me ordered 10!” Better luck next time, I guess. We decide to stop on Ellis Island after checking out the Statue of Liberty. We first want to see the Statue of Liberty up close.
Another 10 minutes pass by before we see Liberty Island. There is a huge line of people waiting to board the ferry as soon as we get off. As we enter through the gates, we head towards the information center to find out what we need to do to get into the statue. Quinn has been waiting for this moment for the past two months. As we approach the desk, a man greets us with brochures about the statue. When asked about getting entrance into the statue, he states that we need to reserve a date and the soonest available date is in August. We will not be able to go into the statue after all. What a drag.
With spirits a bit deflated, we walk around the statue and check out the view from the grass at her front. Many people are milling around in the hot day sun, drinking water and other beverages. Quinn and Kaya balance on the lower concrete wall, looking longingly at the enormous statue towering above us. At one point group of young women sing “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood, while standing on the lawn.
Quinn and Kaya run around on the grass, amazed at the sheer size of the Statue of Liberty, and Quinn can hardly find words to describe his impression. After recording a short video for his school, we decide to check out the gift shop. If we can’t get into the statue, at least we can buy a few souvenirs. The gift shop is not even in a building. The heat and humidity are so intense and the throng of people make it hard to navigate through the displays. Finally we pick up a replica, two T-shirts, and two small torches for the kids.
Thoroughly sticky and hot, we head back to the gates and the ferry. The lines have grown since we came. While waiting for our turn, Quinn and Kaya busily occupy themselves with their torches, spinning and whirring, with lights in their centers. After ten minutes, Quinn is bored with his and wants to play in the small dirt square beside our place in line. As is usually the case with children, Kaya wants to follow him.
Luckily, the line begins to move and our turn comes up. This time, we are not so fortunate to get seats; however, we are able to move around. We head for the top floor, finding our way to the front of the ferry, the breeze refreshes our bodies. Quinn cannot stay still though, and we head down to the lower deck. As we approach Ellis Island, we prepare to get off, only to learn that the ferry is not going to stop there after all. That attraction closes at 4:30PM. We are let down again.
Once we reach New Jersey shore once again, we head for the van, hoping that the cats have not escaped. When we get there, we let them out and sit on the grass divide, drinking water and talking about our impression of the statue and the gift shop. It is at this point that we take out our T-shirts and look at the labels. Yes, they are made with organic cotton and are died with natural dies, but they are not made in the USA. These shirts are made in (country?). The torches were made in China and so was the replica. In fact nothing in that store actually came from America at all.
Without further ado, we pack up the cats, kids, keepsakes and other items and head towards Philadelphia. Within minutes Kaya is asleep and Quinn is not far behind. We head out of the industrial district and attempt to get out of New Jersey. It is not as easy as it may seem. The roads are bumpy and confusing. As we pass through downtown Jersey, I take pictures of the abandoned buildings and dirty concrete blocks. At one point we see a man pacing aggressively beside us as we wait for the light to turn green, and JP urgently tells me to put the camera down and lock the doors. This is not the part of town you want to be caught with a camera in, apparently.
We quickly scoot out of town and head south. Back on the concrete divide, we pass more walls, restaurants, and hotels. Quinn wakes up complaining of hunger and we decide that we need to call it a night. We stop at a hotel advertising cheep rates, located next to an Indian restaurant. It is dark and everyone is tired. We quickly unload our stuff and try to get everyone into the hotel. Patches escapes from his harness and tries to escape but I catch him and put him in the hotel room. With food and a cooler in hand, we attempt to make it into the room without letting the youngest cat escape into the back parking lot. He is too fast and disappears into the forest block behind the hotel. Fluffer remains with us in the hotel room and we are too tired to go after the younger feline tonight. Maybe he will return in the morning.
After eating some of the food we have brought with us, everyone turns in for the night. Tomorrow we will be going to Philadelphia.
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