New York City, New York

August 19-22

We went for a weekend up to New York City. We took the train up through Union Station and went up to Penn Station. Our hotel was a short walk from the train station and a good location to get to all of my NPS sites. I was able to get the remaining stamps that I didn’t get when Damon and I went years ago. We visited the African Burial Ground, Federal Hall, General Grant Memorial, Governors Island, Hamilton Grange, Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the Stonewall Monument. Most important for Owen was that we stopped at almost all of the playgrounds throughout the city. It was rather hot, so it was nice to be able to stretch out a bit as well. A highlight of the trip was the total solar eclipse. We were on the ferry from Governors Island during the totality and a lady was nice enough to lend us her glasses to see it on our own. I enjoyed seeing all the people out in on the sidewalks with their various solar eclipse viewing devices. The General Grant memorial was almost identical to the tomb of Napoleon in Paris. A small detail I found funny was that the visitor was underneath and kinda around the corner in a building that was formerly a bathroom. The outside of the door was still labeled as a bathroom and the interior very bathroom like tiles were still there. We were also able to visit the 9/11 Memorial that was very moving. When Damon and I had gone before the construction was just barely beginning.