Vacation was so needed, and by the time Slippy and I headed off to NJ my brain was already shutting down. We spent the night before our cruise near the Newark airport at a great rate thanks to Priceline. Well rested we were up early to head to Liberty Park in Jersey City where we headed for beautiful weather, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. The skyline of NY just looks so non-descript to me without the towers. Of course, those who spent more time around there would probably say differently.

When I was younger, I had taken a bus trip to NYC with my girl scout troop. I don't have a ton of memories from that trip, other than not having any burning desire to return to NYC proper, but my mother assures me due to one reason or another we didn't actually get to Lady Liberty as was intended. So this was my first visit, and long overdue. When I saw they had reopened the crown I proposed adding this to our trip, and I am glad I did. We booked ahead to get crown passes, and despite Slippy's recent bout with a chest cold, we made it up all of those stairs. I admit the statement "I thought you'd be bigger" (stolen from Road House) does apply to Ms. Liberty, but to stand at the windows in the crown you can look down to the left and see the tablet clearly, you can look up to the right and see the edges of the torch. Ellis Island was enlightening and interesting. I wish I had had a name or two to look up.

More on the rest of the trip later tonight! Right now I'm going for some sushi.