Our last day in New York was a full day, and one that I had planned several months ago. We were up early and ready to leave the hotel by 7:30 a.m. We checked out of our room and left our luggage with the bellman in the downstairs lobby. We called for a Lyft ride who showed up within two minutes, and he drove us to Battery Park which took about 30 minutes. We stopped at a nearby Starbucks for hot chocolate and a breakfast sandwich. We went to the line for the Liberty Island ferry, and we were directed to a building where we could pick up our tickets and wristbands. I had booked these tickets several months ago, and at first I thought we were going to miss it, but then I realized that the tickets were good all day long. The wristbands were going to allow us to climb to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. We also got to stand in a shorter line for the security checkpoint which was nice because there was already a large crowd trying to board the ferry. After arriving at Liberty Island we took advantage of the self-guided tour recordings which gave us a lot of information. Eventually we arrived at the pedestal where we went through another security checkpoint. We took the elevator to the top of the pedestal, and then Jeffrey and I climbed the stairs to the crown. This was a spiral staircase that was steep and narrow. At the crown were two park rangers who shared a lot of information with us. We had a clear view, and we stayed at the crown for about 10 minutes. After visiting the Statue of Liberty we ate lunch at a nearby cafe. I didn't realize how fast the time was going by. We stood in line to get on a ferry to Ellis Island, and it was a large crowd. We had to wait for another ferry because I declined to move up the line where Jeffrey was holding a place for us. By the time we got to Ellis Island I was concerned that we might take too long to get back for our shuttle to the airport. Wendy stayed by the ferry while Jeffrey and I ran to see our ancestors names on the Immigration Wall. We took some pictures and ran back to the ferry before it left for Battery Park. We had a little time left so we walked to the NYC Ferry. The boat took us under the Brooklyn Bridge and then to a stop near 35th Street. We transferred to a bus which took us to 8th Street and then transferred to another bus to our hotel. We picked up our luggage and took a shuttle to the airport. The traffic was awful, and the ride through Queens took almost two hours. We eventually got through security and boarded our flight to SLC. The flight was almost five and a half hours, and we arrived in SLC at 11:40 p.m. I took the shuttle to the Parking Spot, got the car, and returned to the airport to pick up Wendy and Jeffrey. We stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break and finally arrived home about 3:00 a.m. I slept like a rock until 10:00 a.m.
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