Those 70ish Girls

I’ll bet not too many people traveling in an RV with three dogs and a cat, and towing a Jeep, could conquer New York City in a day and a half. You can come pretty close if you stay at an RV park-it. (I call it park-it because it really isn’t a park where you put your awning out and sit around a campfire.) The beauty of it is, it’s only a ten minute walk from a ferry that takes you to the financial district, Ground Zero and the Freedom Tower, plus the 9/11 Memorial and Museum…or …The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Each ferry ride is less than twenty minutes. 

We also had near perfect weather. We spent the afternoon we got there walking to and around Liberty State Park.

Cyndie: I’m so glad to be off that scary ride. We don’t have to get on a boat do we?

Sammie and Pattie: Are there places to hide?

The next morning we walked the dogs, turned the TV to their favorite channel, and went to see Ground Zero and the 9/11 Museum and Memorial. We even went to the top of the Freedom Tower and got back to the RV in time to walk the dogs again.

The museum honoring those who lost their lives and the countless others whose lives were shattered by the events of that day, was a highly emotional experience for Kip and me. When you see in person, all of the tangible evidence left in the wake of the horror this country was subjected to on 9/11/2001, it can’t help but have a huge impact. Even seventeen years later.

I think the thing that touched my heart the most, and one of the many things that brought tears,  was one of the quotes stenciled on the wall. The wife of a young man killed in the World Trade Center said she didn’t want that day to end. She said even though it was a day filled with horror, it was still a day she had shared a part of with her husband. 

A little ten year old girl wrote a letter to her favorite baseball player, Derek Jeter. Her father had been the pilot on flight 175. (The highjackers slit his throat.)

I took the above shot standing directly  below the tower. The next one was from the ferryboat the next day.

The view from floor 102 of the tower…

Except for a section of the museum that held a lot of the more personal items and things that should be seen in person, we were allowed to take pictures. That section also had the remains of the building that formed a perfect cross. A symbol that meant and still means a lot to many. I found this picture on the internet.

I didn’t take many photographs. These few include the “survivors” stairs and a couple in the section honoring the dogs of 9/11. 

You really must experience for yourself, this incredible display  representing the many acts of kindness, heroism and evidence of  miracles, as well as vivid reminders of the devastation this nation was subjected to that day.

Above: The Ladder 3 firetruck.

Tomorrow…Ellis Island and Lady Liberty.