Dork in New York

Journal from Thursday, June 21st, part two

After seeing the 9/11 memorials, we headed toward South Ferry to ride to Staten Island so I could see the Statue of Liberty. Dad decided to walk, but I was worn out, so Mom and I took the subway. But when we got to the entrance we needed, there wasn’t anywhere to buy tickets. When we finally found a booth, the teller didn’t accept credit cards and the machine would only give a minimum of $10 on the pass card. Dad had our cash with him.

Somehow Mom and I scrounged up the $2.25 each, with only ten cents to spare. Earlier there had been a woman singing in the subway car and I’d given her fifty cents. Later I saw that the other subways stations charged $2.50 a person. Not needing that .50 for Mom’s and my ride seemed like I’d been blessed for my gift to the lady.

But getting the tickets was only the start of our trouble. We had one card between us, so Mom went through and then handed the card back to me through the bars. I swiped it and tried to go through, but the bars wouldn’t budge. I swiped it again and Mom and I tugged on the bars. This time the gate opened and the bars swung around—only I didn’t.

Somehow we’d managed to push the gate around ahead of me. Now our pass card was depleted, leaving Mom stuck inside and me stuck outside.

Sheepishly I went back to the poor teller we’d already bugged twice and told him what had happened. “Well,” he said kindly, “The only thing I can do is let you into my entrance going north. You’ll have to go one stop north and then transfer over at that stop and go back south.” Apparently once you are inside the tunnel, some stations have stairs that will loop you around to the other direction without going out and paying to come back in, but others don’t.

I'm in the middle with the dark shirt.

Meanwhile, Dad had arrived at the ferry and kept phoning me to see where we were, but cell signal comes and goes in the tunnels, so every time he called or Mom called to check where I was, I lost them. Then Mom and I discovered we could see each other across the tracks and had a wave and good laugh. I discovered later that Mom heard an announcement that said there was a problem with the north-bound train, and was worried I was stuck in the middle of it, but I wasn't and didn't hear of it until later.

Me and Dad on the ferry, with the new Twin Towers under
construction in the background.

After all that, I wasn't feeling so well, but finally we made it to the ferry and found Dad, and then got good news at last. As of just a few days ago, the ferry was now free. It was a bit cooler out on the water and a very pretty ride. As we moved out, the skyline got more distinct and the statue drew closer. She is beautiful. As we came back, if the sun had been just a little lower I could have gotten a picture where it would look like her torch lit up the sun.

Dad took this beautiful photo.

The wind on the water felt great on this over-104-degree weather.

Check back on Friday for the most bizarre picture of the trip.