Beginning of 2010 trip

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Hi, All --
The first event of this year's trip was a family reunion for Bob and his cousins in Wykoff, NJ. Two days later we drove to Liberty Park in NJ and took a tour boat to see Ellis Island. We could have toured the Statue of Liberty, too, , but we had miserable head colds and didn't have to where-with-all to do both. The Statue of Liberty is on a little island right next to Ellis Island in the New York Harbor with New York City right across the water.
As you probaby know, Ellis Island was left to decay for decades until New York State began renovations some years ago. The building off to the side of the Main Building (kind of a mundane name . . . ) has been completed and we were able to take a tour through the building which used to be the first hospital before the land fill made more hospital buildings possible.
We've been in Quebec for three days now, currently around a fjord area off the St. Lawrence River. Yesterday we were on a whale watching tour and saw a slew of whales. I know, it's a "pod" of whales, but we saw even more than that. That blog to follow.

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Photos

Bob's family reunion
Bob's sisters & cousins at the reunion.

abandoned train station
This used to be the station for New Jersey Central RR but it was closed decades ago. Now it houses the ticketing for the tour boats to New York, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

mine more coal
From the huge library of photos, posters and memorabelia on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the main building at Ellis Island.

graffiti column
When these columns were cleaned off during the renovation of Ellis Island, they found a lot of graffiti left by the immigrants, which is now protected.

Bob's grandmother's name
This is on the Wall of Honor, along with probably over a million other names.