statue of liberty

this morning i woke up early and ventured down to Battery Park, bought a ticket for the statue of liberty/ellis island and hopped on a ferry! that made it sounds extremely fast and painless, which it was, but when matt and i went down earlier this summer after 11 am the wait was 3 hours long. i felt bad that he wouldnt get to go but stashed that travel secret in the back of my mind and intended on taking full advantage of it before i headed back to texas.

can i just say that i was giddy, GIDDY, with excitement. just like when i see broadways, museums and anything to do with the U.S. of A can make me super emotional. i may or may not have teared up when i saw this sign.

kyra, if youre reading this...i know youre laughing.

so i get on the ferry, secure a spot on the top deck for some prime picture taking, and pass the time trying to figure out what the asian family next to me is talking about. i just dont understand any part of their language whatsoever.

little did i know the boat would be rocking left and right. for a minute i thought i was going to lose it. but then i remembered the wholesome $.75 bagel i had on my way to the subway and my stomach settled accordingly. all i could think about was passing out by myself on the ferry, everybody crowding around me and yelling "who is with this girl? is she ALONE?"...yes, sir and madam, yes i am.

well, there she is! i would post all the pictures i took but its basically just Lady Liberty and all of her flattering angles. let me just say that thing is HUGE. i never really understood how big it was until i was right under it. i would have loved to walk up into the crown, but those tickets were sold out. so much for planning ahead, hill.

here's a pretty sweet shot of manhattan as we turned the corner towards ellis island. i opted not to get off the ferry at the statue since my camera was full enough of the green lady and all her angles. plus, i didnt feel like walking in the steamy morning heat. so i parked it on the first level with a family of sweedes and waited until everybody unloaded. a park ranger came up to me and said "uh, youre going to ellis island?" "yes, sir." i said. either he was upset that i wasnt showing my patriotic duty by standing on lady liberty's foot stool, or he thought i was a complete loser for traveling alone. whatever!

off to ellis island we were! here's our ferry.

appropriately named, aint she?