Monday, August 14 | 7:23 pm
Wow, it was a busy day! I guess I didn't have time to write earlier.

Today, we ate breakfast in our room, before heading out early to the boat tour that would take us all around the island of Manhattan. Took 43 pictures on a 2 1/2 hour ride. XD I'll just show you them and give a little caption.

A cool old sail boat we saw right after starting. Reminded me of a pirate ship.

Recognize this? It's Ellis Island.

Lower Manhattan. We started by circling around to the mouth of the rivers towards...

...the Statue of Liberty! I'm sure you've seen many pictures of it, but here's mine. XD

Saw the Staten Island Ferry while on our cruise... no Spider-Man though... *cough cough*

Brooklyn's here! :D

I believe the Brooklyn Bridge? Please correct me if I'm remembering wrong. We started back up via the East River at this point.

I think this is The Bronx...

The boat reached the top of the island and followed the river's curve to turn around and head back to the dock. This is the George Washington Bridge with Manhattan behind it and New Jersey to the right.

AND THE WOORLD WIILL KNOW

This was a sign I saw on the boat and it just reminded me of the song so I had to take a picture. XD

After the tour we walked to the closest subway station and took it up to the Natural History Museum. Before viewing we got lunch from the locally famous Shake Shack- good but unhealthy! We sat behind the museum next to this pleasant fountain.

Walked around to the front to go in...

...The American Museum of Natural History! The photo policy was kind of vague. They just said photos are allowed "for private use only" and they "are not to be published." I wasn't sure if this was considered publishing or what so I stayed on the safe side and didn't take photos, sorry! :3

It was nice, though. I thought the Northwest Coast Native American exhibit was cool, maybe because I'm from Oregon and studied the Haida or maybe it was just cool by itself! They had a big canoe hanging in the Grand Gallery. The Hall of the Universe was cool, too, and my dad liked the gems and minerals.

We stayed until they closed. There's so much to see, we didn't get to half of it, probably.

Once they closed, we walked around Central Park for an hour or so by the Ramble. It was nice to see some nature after being surrounded by so much concrete. Take some nature!

My mom thought this was a tribute to John Lennon because he wrote a song called "Imagine" and was killed nearby.

Walked back to the hotel and are hanging out for a little. We probably should figure out something about dinner...

11:04 pm
Going to bed. Dinner was pretty good. We ate at an Indian place near the hotel that wasn't fancy but tasty! They serve a large portion and are cheap. Can't remember the name... darn. Well, we are going to bed so good night!