Park 6: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, New Jersey

5/23/12. We had a hard time deciding to head out for a park today because the weather was cool and thunderstorms were threatening. As it neared afternoon, the sun cleared and we headed north to Jersey City to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

(By the way, you'll notice in the title of the post that we in New Jersey consider that the Statue of Liberty is located in our state! All one has to do is to check a map to see that it is right off our coast.)

Mom entering Ellis Island Building

As we reached Jersey City, it started to pour heavily and we doubted our decision to visit the park today, but by the time we got to the ferry terminal, the rain stopped and it brightened a bit. Perhaps because of the weather, and the fact that it was still late spring, the boat was pretty empty.

We got off at Ellis Island first and spent some time admiring the architecture as we always do. Because we've been here many times, we didn't go on the typical tour. We spent a lot of time in the gift shop looking at books from the period and studying immigration photos. Ellis Island has two marvelous shops - one with national parks materials in the main hall, and another tucked in the corner with items imported from all over the world that represent the immigrants who entered through Ellis Island.

Beatiful Architecture of Ellis Island Building

We grabbed some pierogis for lunch and sat outside enjoying the spring day. We finally tore ourselves away so that we could catch the next ferry since we were running out of time at the end of the day.

Daughter on Ferry with Lower Manhattan in the background

We really enjoyed the ride to the Statue of Liberty as the sun had come out and the sky and water was calm and beautiful. We decided not to get off the ferry since the Statue is under renovation and there's not much to do on the island. And of course, we've visited her many times before! We sat on the top level of the ferry boat and we had an excellent view of the whole island. It gave us a perspective on the place that we didn't get from the ground and I'm glad we chose to stay on board.

We waited for the ferry to load again and made it back to the dock in Jersey City. We admired the old remnants of the train station as we walked back to the car, then took a quick ride through Liberty State Park to end our journey.