Day 8 – September 12 – Gene-ology.com

Baseball has the triple play. Horse racing has the Triple Crown. Yesterday, Gayle and I pulled off our own triple-heritage tour de force!

One definition of tour de force means an impressive achievement accomplished with exceptional effort. I’m not sure how much of our travels today were exceptional, but it’s a grand slam in my book! It wasn’t something we planned—it just worked out that way.

Yesterday we visited some of America’s greatest icons: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Statue of Liberty. Three things that I have always been in awe of since childhood. America history was my favorite subject in school and today was my best field trip ever!

Only twice before has a place I visited had an emotional effect on me—Little Big Horn National Park and Mount Rushmore. Now I will add one more place to that short list—Independence Hall.

As we started walking into Independence Hall it gave me “goosebumps.” To think I was walking through the very door George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams and other distinguished individuals of American revolutionary times was a moment I will not forget.

Then, as I entered the room where the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were debated. written, and approved, my eyes got a little misty. I loved being there—I felt humbled, privileged, and proud to be an American.

We saw the Liberty Bell before we went to Independence Hall. I didn’t have the same experience I had at Independence Hall, but I was humbled to be in the presence of such an historic and iconic symbol of our nation.

Once we visited Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell we decided to go on to Liberty State Park in New Jersey to see the Statue of Liberty. We believed we could get there in time to see it and not have to include in our New York City adventure. We arrived about 3:00 p.m.

Originally, I was okay with just seeing the Statue of Liberty from the park. But once we got there I changed my mind. We went to the ferry terminal that has ferry’s going to Ellis Island and to the Statute of Liberty.

We managed to get tickets the last ferry of the day that goes to Ellis Island and the Statute of Liberty.

The ferry first docked at Ellis Island. If you got off you would need to wait until the next ferry arrived to continue on to the Statute of Liberty. We decided, because it was late in the day, to stay on board and continue on to the Statute of Liberty.

The Statute of Liberty is not on Ellis Island. It has it’s on island which is named Liberty Island.

We arrived at Liberty Island a short time after leaving Ellis Island. We debarked and walked around to the front of Lady Liberty. Wow! What an amazing sight and moment. I was actually standing in front of the Statute of Liberty. What a way to end a day!

The high temperature yesterday was around 83. There was a strong breeze at Liberty State Park and at Liberty Island.

As of last night, we have traveled 1631 miles. Gas ranges from $4.17 to $4.49.

We stayed in Jersey City last night. It’s not far from New York City. We will visit New York City today.

I have included 9 pics with today’s summary of Day 8:

1 Where we ate breakfast

2 The Liberty Bell

3 Independence Hall

4 Room where Declaration of Independence and our Constitution where written and approved

5 Our ferry boat

6 The Statute of Liberty

7 A cruise ship in New York Harbor

8 The New York City skyline