July 5 = Day 9

Synopsis:  98.5 miles driven; 2.25 hours on the road; Jersey City, NJ to Mount Pocono, PA; Visited World Trade Center site, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Empire State Building

We had stayed up late last night watching the fireworks over the Hudson River (Macy's celebration of the 4th for New York City). We only had to walk .3 mile from our hotel (Marriott in Jersey City) to a river walk where we could see the fireworks. We had no breakfast at our hotel and we left around 6:45 to head into the city. We had made a parking garage reservation and rate guarantee (www.bestparking.com) at a garage right between the WTC site and Battery Park.

In Battery Park, we stopped off at Clinton Castle to pick up our pre-ordered tickets. They opened the doors at 7:45 and I was the first in line at the second will call window. It was then that I was told that every adult going into the Crown (which we were) would have to have a photo id. Lisa's driver's license was back in the van in the parking garage. A short mile (round-trip) jog back, got the driver's license in her hand in time to catch the first ferry to Liberty Island.

Once there, Crown ticket holders (limited to 240 people per day compared to 3,000 per day in the monument and 12,000 per day to the island) go to the Ranger office (Information Center). We got our special wristbands and special instruction and then headed over to the lockers ($1 for 2 hours and required to but everything but you and your camera in - no wallets, bags, drinks, etc. allowed). We then checked-in with another Ranger and got a 9:40 am time to go up into the Crown. Jedi led our pack up the 334 steps to the Crown. We then came down and visited the monument and the museum. We caught the 11:35 ferry to Ellis Island.

Ellis Island was cool and we only spent an hour there. FYI - we were told to plan about 5 hours for Liberty and Ellis Island. That should be 5 hours not including check-ins or transportation OR about 7 hours total. We blitzed through Ellis. It was special to me to walk through the Registry Room and to think that both my great-grandfather and great-grandmother Kroll passed through this room as they immigrated to the US. Returning to Battery Park from Ellis Island, we made our way to the Metro.

I like and appreciate the NYC Metro system but the ticket machines are horrible. The machines in DC are SO MUCH better. The ones in DC did not allow you to buy multiple tickets at once, half the machines were not in service, most the others sold limited options (only single use or only metrocards), they would only allow you to use a credit card twice, some required exact change, all would only give a maximum of $6 change - all of which make it difficult to buy a ticket for 7 people when you are not carrying a pocket of change. On the way back (later today), two of the cards we had just bought wouldn't work so Makenzie and I had to pass under the turnstile (no agent or attendant was there or available to help).

We took the Metro north to 34th Street to visit the Empire State Building (ESB). The guys out front, trying to sell upgrades to the 102nd floor observatory, said the line was 90 minutes long. We gave it a shot and found it was only 40 minutes long. The view from the top was great and the experience was wonderful. By the time we finished visiting the top and the gift shops, we were about an hour off of our estimated schedule (looking to arrive at our hotel for the night around 8:00 pm) and a little worn out so we made the difficult decision not to walk up 5th Avenue from 34th Street to Central Park...and so we missed a visit to Central Park but as Jordan pointed out - we saw it from the top of the ESB.

We took the metro south, got the van back, headed out of town, drove for a couple of hours and finally got to our hotel for the night. The indoor pool is entertaining the boys and the laundry facilities are helping mom. Postcards are being written and bedtime is just around the corner. Thanks for reading!

Hotel Deal of the Day: One night at a Quality Inn for $0 by using points accrued with stays on last year's trip.