A day in the life: Lady Liberty on the Fourth of July

New York: part 1

We had a red eye to New York which left at 12:01 a.m. on the 4th of July, with a 7 1/2 hour layover at JFK.

So, what more practical thing to do than zip out to see the Statue of Liberty?

I calculated travel time and feared we wouldn't make it back in time to catch our connecting flight, and every time I expressed such doubtful comments Matt sang, "My Country Tis of Thee!" Followed by, "Kathryn, be patriotic!"

Conveniently, JFK has a new Air Train that connects the airport to the subway system.

So, we got off our flight, hopped a train, got on the subway, navigated the underground and voila! There we were. I should mention that it was early in the morning and Matt had to carry both of the kid's heavy car seats all through the city. Classic. I wish I would have gotten a picture. (You can see the heavy car seats in the above picture on the bin seat thingy.

We also got to see Ellis Island, but only from the boat. We figured we didn't have enough time to go onto the islands. Matt's great (gr. gr.?) grandfather went through Ellis Island and even has a name plaque on the wall there.

After our cruise to Lady Liberty, we went to find a letterbox hidden in Battery Park. There was one problem, though. The park was completely gated off for an Independence Day concert. I had to talk my way past some security guards into a gated area. The first conversation was funny. Here's the gest of our conversation after I explained why I needed to get over to some trees:

Guard: "Ah ya gonna dig up da trees?"

Me explaining things: "Blah, Blah"

Guard: "Hey Maury! Dis lady's wit' an intanationawl owganahzayshon a lettaboxas an needs ta get ova ta dos trees."

Big burly guard escorts me so I can poke around in some trees. The box wasn't there. Then I realized it was probably in another part of the park, and after talking my way past some other guards, I found it!