Jersey City to Croton-on-Hudson

We stayed on the Jersey side at Newport Yacht Club and Marina. It was rather "rolly" because of all the river traffic, but being a catamaran, we rolled much less than the sailboats berthed there. We tried to catch a ferry to Ellis Island, but arrived too late for the last boat. But saw New Jersey's Memorial to all their residents killed on Sept. 11, 2001. It's called Empty Sky. The twin towers would have appeared in the distance between the two walls that listed the names of those whose lives were suddenly ended on that tragic day.

The fog continued to hang over NYC during the evening....and we had torrential downpours!

 

On Friday, May 25th...Kate's birthday...we left Jersey City and headed north. The fog lifted a little, and we could see a mile ahead of us, which was fine for navigation. I thought of my friends near Buffalo when I saw this Erie...Lackawanna sign. It must have been a railroad terminal. You should be able to click on any photo and have it enlarged.

 This is the George Washington Bridge...then we went under the Tappan Zee Bridge which carries the NY State Thruway over the Hudson. A few miles past that, we arrived at Half Moon Bay Marina, at Croton-on-Hudson.

We immediately checked in, walked Kate, and then got a ride to the train station so we could visit NYC and get to Ellis Island!

At Grand Central Station we found the subway to Bowling Green Station, at the bottom of Manhattan. But I must say it has been a couple decades since we took trains and subways in New York. The days of buying tokens from real people are gone....we had to use machines that were very temperamental and often refused to accept our credit card...but with help on many occasions from wonderful New Yorkers, we managed just fine. The subways were packed, standing room only. There was such a mass of humanity everywhere....but everyone was polite, and it was actually a very pleasant experience. We didn't get lost...and to top it off, when we emerged from the subway, the sun was shining!!!! It was such a novel experience for us.....

 Lady Liberty in the sunshine!

We got off the ferry at Ellis Island. The Parks System does an excellent job explaining what transpired when the millions of immigrants passed through this building. If you came first or second class on the ship, we didn't have to come through Ellis Island. It was assumed you had "money" and wouldn't become a burden on "the state." But my grandparents, not knowing each other at the time, came through this building, and were healthy enough, physically and mentally, to be welcomed to America!

Many years ago, my father had his parents' names inscribed on The Wall of Honor at Ellis Island. There are over 700,000 names on the wall. Giovanni Napoli and Maria Barbaro were married in Brooklyn in 1910.

On the ferry ride back, we had a good view of The Brooklyn Bridge, sans fog.

On the way back, we got off the subway at Fulton St. and arrived at Ground Zero. We finally saw the entire height of the new World Trade Building, the tallest building in NY, still under construction.

We arrived back safely on board "Snow Cat-on-Hudson", ate dinner at the Croton Colonial Diner, and gave Kate roast beef for her birthday!