New York, New York!!

Excited to be entering New York City by water, we boated from Staten Island, under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and into the New York harbor. We watched the Manhattan skyline grow minute by minute, met the Staten Island Ferry, and passed directly in front of the iconic Statue of Liberty. I thought of my grandparents who immigrated to America and entered this same harbor by ship more than 100 years ago.

Liberty Landing Marina is part of Liberty State Park in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center. Soon after we arrived, John and Katy’s Lyft dropped them at the marina for a few days of shared experiences in NYC. We took the Liberty Landing Ferry across the Hudson River to a Manhattan hotel.

That afternoon we walked lower Manhattan, past the 9/11 Memorial and City Hall, and then across the Brooklyn Bridge into Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), before Ubering back to the hotel.

We enjoyed refreshments on the hotel’s rooftop and then walked to dinner at Odeon, a French bistro in Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal).

The next morning John and I walked to Zucker’s to get take-out breakfast for all of us.

Because Rhonda and Katy are nurses, we had hoped to visit the Ellis Island hospital, but could not get tickets on short notice. Instead, we used the Lyft app to rent electric CitiBikes (available everywhere in the City) and rode the two-lane bike path north through Hudson River Park, then walked the creative and and interesting High Line. Built on a historic elevated rail line, the High Line is a linear park with gardens, art, and small performance venues, designed to encourage human connections from a unique perspective of New York City. We exited the High Line east of the Empire State Building and decided to see the city from the ESB Observatory. Beautiful!

By late afternoon we were ready for another Manhattan favorite, Katz’s Delicatessen!

We ferried back to the boat and enjoyed an evening playing Euchre and Quixx and enjoying the unbeatable view of Manhattan’s skyline.

The next day we met Looper friends in front of the Statue of Liberty to exchange quasi-mandatory Looper photos of our boats passing Lady Liberty. We extended the trip to include a semicircle boat tour around lower Manhattan.

We have updated our “boat cards” with the new photo of R&R in front of the Statue of Liberty, and have already exchanged cards with new Looper friends in NYC and points north.

Thankful beyond words to have spent this special part of the Loop with family!