Statue of Liberty

We've been planning on visiting the Statue of Liberty with the kids.  We'd thought we'd see it in the spring when things around the house, Jeremy's school, and the schedule had finished or atleast calmed down.  Unfortunately, that was not possible.  The National Park Service is getting ready to close her down to renovate her over the next 12 months.  We will be on the other side of the world when she re-opens.  We sat and poured over the calendars and came up with the date of this past weekend.  The weather was a bit windy and it was high 60s, but it was really good.
We left after Parker's first soccer game and drove up.  It takes around 4 hours and costs just under $20 in tolls.  We had dinner at a "Spanish" restaurant.  This is not to be confused with "Mexican."  There were NO burritos where we were.  It was excellent food, though.

Sunday morning we were up and ready.  We stayed at a hotel on the New Jersey side about 10 minutes away from the Statue.  (And, about 20 seconds away from the Newport Airport, but it wasn't noisy.)

Here she is from the parking lot near the ferry entrance:

You arrive at an old train station to pick up your tickets, go through security and board your ferry:

 From the train station you can see Ellis Island with the Statue (on Liberty Island) behind:

 You can also see New York City the other direction:

 Arriving at Ellis Island:

 We used the Ellis Island Family History Center to look and see if we'd had any ancestors that had gone through.  We didn't find any names.  However, we did walk the same steps that all the immigrants had to climb.  They are made of stone and very, very worn from usage.

 We stood in the room that they lined up to give their names:

 And, of course, found a place outside to play:

 Parker took this picture:

 We boarded the ferry again for Liberty Island:

Our view at lunchtime:

We had tickets to walk up the inside, but only the "pedestal" part.  That is all the stone.  To walk up the rest of her into the "crown" you must have another ticket.  They only allow 300 of these and they were gone for every single day for the rest of the time until the renovation.

 Just inside, they have the original torch.  It became to weathered to keep it out:

 Beforehand, Allison was quite unsure that the face was 8 feet tall.  Guess we proved her wrong:

 And her feet:

 All the stairs, yes we walked up and yes, we walked down:

 Views from the top and outside of the pedestal:

For fun, the kids got little "souvenirs."  McKenna and Parker got little squeaky ducks, Madison got a small snow globe, and Allison got a bag/purse.  They all got a lollipop.  We left the $50 Barbie on the shelf.

 There is an open area in front of the Statue of Liberty:

On this picture, we asked Allison to take a picture of mom and dad with the whole Statue of Liberty.  This is what we got:

 And we boarded the ferry again, back to the old train station: