1 Day in New York City: Liberty, Water, Heights, and Memorials

New York City in one Memorable Day

Everyone knows New York City is a bucket list item in itself, but navigating all the never ending list of possible places to see as a tourist is almost an anxiety driven task. Where to stay, what to see, how many miles to walk, take a taxi, see history of the 1700, 1800, 1900, or 2000s. Our family with 2 children, was only going to have 1 day to explore and so we had to prioritize. This adventure included Castle Clinton National Monument, Ferry to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, One World Observatory, 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial and Museum. Join us on our walk-through New York City streets in a single day.

30 states in 17 days Road tripping over half of the United States gave us the opportunity to spend 1 single day in New York City. Our day started in Washington DC and took an early morning drive into the city. I know, 4am is a scary time to tell your sleeping family to wake up. In retrospect, it wasn’t that bad. We planned an early night before, showered and packed everything we could, set the alarm for 315am and dosed off.

The best part of traveling with young children when its still dark out, they sleep through the few hours of driving required to enter NYC early. Leaving DC so early was really an attempt to not have to be delayed with morning traffic. The kids woke up to a beautiful sunrise into New York.

Driving into Battery Park

Driving into the city required us to find a parking place for the truck. Pre-paying for a parking garage seemed like the best approach to start with, until you pull up and the traffic attendant that says “your truck is too big to fit”. What do you do next? Luckly we were able to keep heading towards our destination and find one of the many parking garages available that had spots remaining with our truck size. Crisis averted!

Amazingly we were parked even closer to our destination of Battery Park where our Ferry to Liberty Island will take off. Less than a mile of walking brought us to the check-in location for the National Parks Service Ferry. We made our reservations in advance and is a must. Such a popular place to be, the tickets do sell out. This is one of 2 NPS Ferry locations. The other location is in New Jersey at Liberty State Park.

Plan in Advance for the best view: 3 months

Yeah, I said it, this trip had no room for spontaneity. The Statue of Liberty is iconic NYC and a must when passing through. As soon as we knew our date to be the city, Bill scoped out tickets on Statue City Cruises. Liberty Island boat tickets must be purchased in advance. Statue City Cruises is the best avenue to purchase your tickets according to price that we found. No joke, purchase exactly 3 months before you plan to visit. Crown, Pedestal and General Admission Island only tickets are available. The boat is the same, only difference is the Crown and Pedestal levels cost slightly more to go up within the Statue. Get early because they sell out fast, and keep in mind how may steps you can climb in your decision of level to reserve and earlier in the day is better for lines of people.

Castle Clinton National Monument in Battery Park

Liberty Island boats are timed tickets, so get there early and visit Castle Clinton within the Battery Park area. It’s a quick visit, but shows the history of a Fort, Aquarium, and now a National Monument. Talk to the Rangers to get your National Park Passport Stamp here.

Canons are still present at the fort. Through the evolution of the city, Castle Clinton has changed with the expansion on of New York City. On the walk back to our boat check-in, look at all the street sellers. It was really busy at 9am already, so we held on tight to the kids and made our way in line. Bring as few items as possible with to the boat, so I would suggest buying items later.

Ferry boats with amazing views of Statue of Liberty

Security is required to board the boats to Liberty Island. Make sure to get in line to the Statue City Cruise Ferry and not Staton Island Ferry. The boat ride has 2 levels, go to the top and get these awesome views of the Island. Somehow, we timed it right and were some of the first ones on the boat and right on top for the amazing views of not only the Statue but of the city skyline.

*The Statue of Liberty from the ferry boat*

Once you get on the Island take a walk around to the Museum and start your Junior Ranger booklet, walk the Statue of Liberty base, and if you purchased the Pedestal or Crown get in line to enter the Statue. Bags cannot be taken up into the statue, so bring a quarter to place your bag in the Lockers by the entrance. Share your quarter once you get your bag back, I guarantee many didn’t bring quarters and we gave quarter to the next person who didn’t know to bring one.

We signed up a week shy of the 3 months prior to visit date and still missed the Crown tickets and couldn’t delay our date, but the Pedestal was awesome either way. Climb the 192 steps or wait for the elevator. Walk around the feet of Lady Liberty to look out at Ellis Island, Governors Island, and the NYC skyline. Also there is an additional museum within the base of the Statue that was less crowded and easy to slowly walk through. The Crown level is 162 additional steps without an elevator accessible route.

Junior Ranger Program is still a highlight of our visits

Find the Rangers station within the main Museum to get the Junior Ranger booklet, fill it out while walking through the museum and grounds. This was one of our last stops on the island with the heat increasing, the air conditioning felt great while walking around the museum and finished with the kids pledging to be a Junior Ranger for Statue of Liberty National Monument while standing with the Statue herself in view! I really still believe this program is a cool experience. Make sure to pass by the Gift shop to get your National Parks Passport Stamp for both Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Then we made our way to get in line for the boats again. The ferry boats create a round trip of 3 boat rides. New Jersey or New York starting point to Liberty Island, then Liberty Island to Ellis Island, then make sure to board the right boat back to either New Jersey or New York. After we had made it on the boat to go to Ellis Island, we realized that we had spent over 3 hours on the island alone.

Unfortunately, we had to make the decision to skip Ellis Island and stayed on the boat to go back to NYC. There were larger crowds at midday and many large groups. Restoration was also happening within the building. We still had a lot to do today and over all we still spent 4 hours with this part of the trip and were needing food. We will put this on our future bucket list items for sure.

*Flag at Ellis Island Immigration National Monument*

A Part of History our Generation Experienced- 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial and Museum

After leaving Ellis Island and continuing our ferry boat ride look at the beautiful city skyline of New York City. Haze was beginning to roll through the area and visibility was getting harder. Once docked we walked towards the One World Observatory building as our next destination. Bills Bar & Burger was a perfect stop for lunch that was on the walk. We really try to have a traditional local meal, but when you have kids, and they are hungry you eat at the first available some days.

When walking through the streets and look up at the shiny, reflective, massive building pulls you towards it physically and mentally. One World is impressive in its own measure. The building has the tallest view of the city accessible by the One World Observatory floor. Don’t worry you don’t have to take the stairs to the top. The elevator is ride is part of the entertainment and has a digital show as you rise through the floors.

The Observation floor allows you to walk a full 360 degrees to view New York. This is an enclosed area on the 102nd floor. One World is the tallest building in the United States at 1776 feet. We took our time walking and looking out the windows. Read interesting facts posted helped us find Sully’s landing area on the Hudson. Fun Fact: Bill is terrified of heights and goal is to overcome that fear by going up to the tallest building in each city. So of course, as he is hanging back, William and I are up close to the windows looking down to see everything!

“Where were you when the world stopped turning?”- Alan Jackson

9/11 is a massive historical event that Bill and I lived through before finding each other. Our experiences though similar, were different. We both lived in Nebraska, so not in NYC or DC. I remember so much about September 11, 2001, and we both felt it was very important to visit the Ground Zero Memorial during our trip. Our children have grown up learning about 9/11 through school, tv, and our own personal discussion. To be able to walk this space and see the names hopefully made a connection to them.

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum is located under the South and North towers memorials. This is worth the experience and to walk these halls and hear the voices of survivors is very emotional. Many of the exhibits need to be seen through your eyes, and not through photographs. Some areas were completely restricted to photography and video.

As you enter the base of the towers it is hard to think these walls are the exact walls of North and South Towers. The Escalators and steps of the South Tower basemen are still there with debris covering the steps, as you walk next to them down the stairs to exhibits. We took our time walking through and absorbing the information.

Just a walk-through New York City

While we didn’t go to the other big tourist areas of the city, we had to make our way to our truck and then hotel. Walking down the street we surprisingly walked right up to a very familiar looking church. The Trinity Church at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street is talked about on the National Treasure movie. Once we realized we were at Wall Street, we then started looking for the New York Stock Exchange building just down the street.

Once we retrieved our truck, we realized we had filled our entire day and truly never slowed down. We really had great experiences and would come back to see more for sure. But we had to get on the road to stay on track and explore Boston tomorrow.

Day 8 of our 17-day trip was packed with 400 miles total driving over states Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. National Parks Sites Castle Clinton NM, Statue of Liberty NM, and Ellis Island NM. Tallest building in the United States and a memorial at Ground Zero. Everyone was exhausted and enjoyed every part of the day.

Please look back soon for our entire Itinerary of our epic 2024 Murphys Odyssey Road Trip.