What is THE MUST-SEE?

The Statue of Liberty, of course. An icon not only of New York, but of America, not only America, but of the world, not only of the world, but the universe (if you believe in the little grey men.)

So that was our plan today. Or at least part of our plan. Call in July 11^th, part 1 of 3.

When my brother and I went to NY, we got to choose one thing to see due to limited time. I chose the Statue and it was one of the great traveling moments in my life.

So, I wanted to see if we could repeat that feeling for the family.

I failed.

Yup. No burying the lead here. It simply wasn’t as great.

So, was it the weather?

Well, the weatherman said it would be cloudy with rain, so when we got up at the ungodly hour of 6am to get there at 8am, and there was only sun. When we got our tickets, there was only sun. When we got on the ferry, there was only sun. When we landed on the island, sunny-McSunny-Sunniness. Not a cloud in sight.

Was it our guide?

It wasn’t. He was fantastic. He had the BEST New York accent and that New York attitude that makes me love this city. He knew his stuff and he knew how to tell a story. He made us laugh. He made us think. He gave us personal stories that we could relate to. He gave emotional weight to the location.

Was it the sight itself?

With gloriously unrainy weather, the statue loomed above us like a green goddess set against the most perfect blue sky. It wasn’t too crowded, and we took lots of great pictures.

Also, the side trip to Ellis Island was lovely. We got to stand in the same hall where hundreds of thousands of immigrants had stood, waiting and hoping for a better life. We got to sneak into all the rooms where they were tested or housed for a short time. We got to read about all the groups who’d come over (perhaps most surprisingly, the massive number of Nordic people who came over).

Nope. It was two things.

First, I didn’t do proper research on the tour. The one my brother and I took was longer, more in-depth, and had me in tears by the end of it. It also has one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments where we sat in the grand hall of Ellis Island and listened to a choir sing.

Magical.

However, the fact that we didn’t get to go into the statue or read all the plaques or touch all the models or climb a billion stairs didn’t really figure into the experience.

Why?

That leads me to the second reason.

We woke up exhausted. We got on the subway, exhausted. We stood on the ferry, completely exhausted and ready to go home.

I think we would have loved the tour better if someone had put us in wheelchairs and run us around. So, even if we had been given the maximum tour, I don’t think any of us would have loved it.

Sure, we took lots of pictures, got some sun, and learned about how the statue was almost not built at all due to everyone being cheap-ass idiots. We had a good time with our guide. We even had food.

We just didn’t have the energy to fully enjoy it. Only The-Youngest did and he would have run up those steps inside the Statue of Liberty, complained that he couldn’t take some sort of zip line down, and then run around every nook and cranny touching things if we’d given him the chance.

Make no mistake, though. This is still a MUST-SEE sight. It’s an incredible symbol of the American dream, a sight so many people saw as they came to NYC with hope in their hearts, desperately looking for a better life. Heck, millions of people can trace their ancestry to those who passed through Ellis Island.

It’s not just something beautiful, but something with emotional weight.

However, our day was far, far from done.

More tears were coming.