Lady Liberty for Lunch

The carful of kids are in the shadow of the New York City Skyline waiting for the ferry to arrive so we can meet Lady Liberty after spending a day walking the Freedom Trail in Boston. We are finishing up a three-week road trip that took us from Central Texas to Quebec, the Canadian Maritimes and along the eastern seaboard.

We are skipping New York City because we only have one day and it's a stand-alone trip. That and my boys, aged six and ten, are a tad too young to enjoy it. I am definitely not ready to do what it would take to keep my boys from wandering off.

I lived in NYC for two years when I was a flight attendant and I am not comfortable using public transportation to get my carful of kids in and around the city--which is necessary to get the full NY experience. So we will come back another time and explore it for a week, there is so much to see and I can't wait to share it with them.

Though I lived in NYC, I have never visited the Statue of Liberty myself, so I am just as excited as the kids. We are departing from Liberty State Park in New Jersey, because of the convenience. There is ample parking and it is easier to get to from the interstate and the New Jersey Turnpike.

We spent the night in New Haven, Connecticut, after driving in from Boston and used the Tappen Zee Bridge to cross the Hudson River to get to New Jersey. NYC traffic is a bear so the carful of kids skirt the city, driving north to avoid the majority of it. It seems to have worked, we are almost on-time for our 1 p.m. ferry reservation.

The carful of kids are mesmerized by the Manhattan skyline as we wait for the ferry. It is amazing to see for the first time. My 11 year-old daughter looks over to lower Manhattan with a look I know. She is dying to get there; she will love the city when she gets to the city--just like me.

The ferry that departs Liberty State Park in New Jersey stops at Ellis Island first and doesn't stop on the way back from the Statue of Liberty. We don't have time for the Ellis Island tour so we will have to come back another time, it will give us a chance to visit the other national parks of NYC like Governors Island.

Me and my girl on the ferry

The carful of kids fight the bash, brazen New Jersey crowd and jockey our way onto the top level of the ferry. We didn't drive all this way to sit down below without a view. The Statue of Liberty does not disappoint, she is magnificent and the crowd can't get enough pictures of her.

The Statue of Liberty is a national park and therefore the carful of kids will be earning a Junior Ranger Badge. We check in at the Information Center to get our booklets after we arrive on Liberty Island.

I was able to secure tickets to the pedestal when I realized we had time in our itinerary to visit the Statue of Liberty ($18/adults, $9/kids 4 to 12, ferry included). Visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is an all-day activity, it's a very popular destination and even with advance tickets you will have to wait in long lines for security and the ferry.

If you secure tickets to the pedestal or crown level you will have to pass through an additional security checkpoint. You will not be allowed to bring ANYTHING with you, except a small camera and medication. I rent a locker for $2 for the backpack, purse and everything in my husband's pockets--keys and pens are prohibited too.

After clearing the additional security checkpoint, the carful of kids head to the elevators but there is a line so we take the stairs instead. After 215 steps, we arrive at the top of the pedestal for an epic view.

Along the way, we see the framework and giant nuts and screws that Gustave Eiffel was hired to design. The carful of kids take a few minutes to absorb the view before heading back downstairs to the Liberty Island Museum for a history lesson.

The Statue of Liberty is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an enduring symbol of freedom worldwide. In 1865 Edouard de Laboulage first proposed it as a gift from France to the US for its Centennial.

Artist Frederic Bartholdi was commissioned to sculpt the Statue of Liberty; Laboulage and Bartholdi both agreed that Bedloe's Island was to be the home of the statue. Bedloe's Island had a long history as quarantine station and in 1814, it became Fort Wood--complete with 12 pointed-star shaped building.

In 1876, the Statue's hand holding the torch was displayed in Philadelphia for the Centennial Exposition. Fundraising continued in both countries to complete the project.

In 1879, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel was hired as the engineer after the first engineer died. He designed a structure to hold the weight and height of the statue and to withstand the winds of the New York Harbor.

In 1881, Richard Morris Hunt(architect of the Biltmore Estate) was commissioned to design the pedestal. Morris designed a pedestal that is half the height of the statue with poured 20-foot thick concrete walls and a granite block facade.

Also in 1881, the first copper plate was riveted and the statue started to take shape in Paris. The Statue of Liberty was completed and gifted to the US on July 4, 1884, in Paris. In 1886, she was reconstructed and placed on her pedestal with her dedication on October 28 of that year.

During the 1980s after a hundred years of standing tall, the Statue of Liberty underwent a major restoration and her torch was replaced with a gold-leaf one. The original is on display in the museum.

Getting our Junior Ranger Badges

The carful of kids walk through the museum learning as much as possible while on vacation. The boys even look up her nose for boogers--sorry Lady Liberty.

The carful of kids explore the entire complex, filling out the Junior Ranger booklets before we are ready to call it a day. We take our oath, grab our badges before jumping on the ferry back to New Jersey.

We still want to stop by Rutgers University's RU Hungry? food trailer, famous for their fat sandwich, as featured on the Travel Channel. And we have to drive 400 miles to get to Virginia; the carful of kids need to get home.

Know before you go. Tickets purchased ahead of time are a must for the Statue of Liberty experience.  The carful of kids wanted to make it to the crown but those tickets need to be reserved six months in advance for busy weekends and school vacations.

Up next: Road Trip Wrap-Up

The Biltmore Estate and Beyond

The last time the carful of kids were riding the rails through North Carolina on the Great Smoky Mountain Rail Road. Now we are headed for Asheville, North Carolina, via the Blue Ridge Parkway--a scenic byway that meanders parallel to I-81 for 469 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Shenandoah National Park.

The carful of kids enter the Blue Ridge Parkway just below the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center, where we check out road conditions and grab our Junior Ranger Badge Workbooks.  We check out the Waterrock Knob Trail, despite the light rain and fog. Not many people out today, we hike back down and load back up in the SUV.

The ranger warns us to be careful out on the road because of the fog.  Sure, Got it!  I am a Mom of a carful of kids--careful is my middle name.

We continue north on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then the fog gets fierce.  So many times Melissa and I find ourselves on an unfamiliar mountain road with adverse weather conditions--today it is fog.  But we have been through pounding rain with temperatures hovering around freezing on a 12,000 foot mountain pass with zero visibility, a washed-out road in a flash flood and a hail storm so hard that I thought I would loose my windshield.

It is stressful but with Melissa in my passenger seat, all is well.  We have been driving together for over 20 years, there is comfort in that.

As we get closer to Asheville, the fog lifts.  We stop at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway just north of Asheville, where we finish up our Junior Ranger Badges and watch an artisan make a broom.

Next stop--the Biltmore Estate, an architectural icon and number eight on the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) list of top 150 structures in the United States. I booked online for a discount and they run specials during the summer for free admission for the kids. The Biltmore Estate is open rain or shine, today we got rain.

The Conservatory

The Biltmore Estate was built between 1889 and 1895 by George W. Vanderbilt II as an escape for his family; it is still owned and managed by the descendants of the George Vanderbilt family. It is the largest privately held home in the United States.

Vanderbilt commissioned New York architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a house in the Chateau style and it is a notable example of the Gilded Age. Richard Hunt founded the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and designed the facade and the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and The Breaker's, the Vanderbilt summer home in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Biltmore Estate encompasses 8,000 acres and is bisected by the French Broad River.  The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York City's Central Park; Vanderbilt wanted the Biltmore Estate to be self-supporting so they had poultry, cattle and hog farms including a diary.

Olmsted instituted the first managed forest in the US at the Biltmore Estate. He designed the shrub garden, the Azalea garden, the Italian garden and the centerpiece--the Conservatory.  It houses an extensive collection of palms and tropicals.

The Rose Garden is a magical space with over 2,000 roses surrounding a double arch also covered in roses--it is a must for any rose lover. The Biltmore Estate is the host of the International Rose Trials, plus has an extensive collection of 19th century roses.  

The Carful of Kids.

As we tour the gardens, the rain will not stop. An umbrella and disposable rain ponchos will only do so much.

We head inside the Biltmore House but they do not allow indoor photography. The first floor is dedicated to entertaining and is quite grand and luxurious but not ostentatious.

The Biltmore House has a Billiard Room, Banquet Hall, Salon, Music Room, Tapestry Gallery, Library and Winter Garden. The Biltmore Library contains over 10,000 books, half of Vanderbilt's total collection--a testament to his love of reading. All the rooms feature artwork from Renoir and John Singer Sargent. Vanderbilt admired the work of his architects so much, he commissioned Sargent to paint them.  Hunt and Olmsted considered the Biltmore Estate one of their greatest projects.

The second floor of the Biltmore House is dedicated to the private bedrooms of the Vanderbilt's.  George Vanderbilt's bedroom is quite dramatic with gilded wall coverings with red bedding and upholstery.  Mrs. Vanderbilt's bedroom is opulent with gold and aubergine cut velvet and silk.

The third floor is dedicated to guest quarters and then the tour takes us down to the basement where the bowling alley and the indoor swimming pool are located. With a quick peek down the service corridor, the laundry rooms look especially daunting.  The final part of the tour is the Bachelor's Wing complete with a Smoking Room and Gun Room.

The Biltmore Estate has created the Antler Hill Village as another designation on the Estate. This is where you will find the Winery, Outdoor Adventure Center and the farm.

After exploring the Biltmore Estate all afternoon, we are starving. Dinner at The Moose Cafe is a must, they have the most amazing biscuits and apple butter and the servings are generous.

Up next--a day at the beach.