A year ago today was Labor Day, and our first real adventure day on the Long-Distance Dad road trip. 

At the hotel in Jersey, we waited a half hour for a lost Uber driver who clearly never heard of deodorant. While it was hot that day (actually, it was brutal the whole month!) it was only 9:00 a.m. I would have appreciated wearing a mask in that tiny Honda Civic!  

After the most zig-zagging, convoluted drive ever, we finally arrived at Liberty Park to catch the ferry. Was fascinated by an abandoned railway station there, with an ornate wrought iron roof, and the old track signs. Mtuseni wasn’t that impressed.

Still trying to erase the stink of the Uber driver from our senses.

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I can picture this station once bustling with travelers on their own journeys to near and far. 

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Paths to nowhere now… but once to many somewheres.

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Discovered the new Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial at Liberty Park, which points to where the Twin Towers had stood. Mtuseni knew surprisingly little of that event. A New Jersey reporter interviewed me about that day and my personal connection to it. Tough memories; simple but powerful memorial.

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Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty were new sights for both of us. Ellis Island is so impressive. I got emotional thinking of my grandparents arriving from Eastern Europe. Such courage — they were only teeneagers! I want to return and dig into the archives, find their records.  

Check out our Instagram greeting from Ellis Island!

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What immigrants must have thought — and felt — as they approached this grand building!

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Crowds… I miss them now. 

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The Great Hall where my grandparents were processed. Just… wow.

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Maybe before I die I’ll figure out selfies and selfie sticks. (Actually, I really don’t care.)

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There is a room with walls covered in citizen documents. Just randomly scanning them, this one caught my eye. The woman lived in my hometown way back when — and I had just ridden my bike past her address days earlier. Crazy!

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Butters Row was the road to my kindergarten. It still has a one-lane wooden bridge!

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Mtuseni has wanted to see Miss Liberty since his first US visit seven years ago. He was so excited. It is a beacon of America, still — and forever, let’s hope. Exciting for me too as I had a small replica of it on my desk as a kid.

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Crowds on a boat — the good old days.

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Probably never imagined being here growing up in a shack in South Africa.

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Goober alert. (But hey, why not?)

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My funny gift shop pals. I tried to be Mtuseni’s wing man on the trip; he wasn’t buying it. American girls intimidate him, I think. 

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Took the ferry to Manhattan and walked to the World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial. Ogled at the Oculus. (And got lost in it — the first of several times. Cool architecture, dumb layout.) 

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Damn, I look exhausted. And it’s only the first full day! 

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Took the subway to the Port Authority Bus Terminal … from the sublime Oculus to the armpit of the universe… and a quick shuttle bus back to the hotel. A great day… with so many ahead of us!

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I so wish we were there now. And that Mtuseni wasn’t 8,000 miles away.   

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Back to Manhattan tomorrow!