Citibiking to Liberty State Park

Citi Bikes have become a huge way of how New Yorkers and tourists to NYC get around the city.  There are 332 stations across NYC but for some reason (mostly fear of the crazy traffic and people everywhere) I had never, ever used one in NYC.  Now I know that this could have saved me a lot of time going places!  In mid September Jersey City jumped on the wagon and opened 38 stations and I absolutely felt safe enough over here to give them a try. First thing in the morning, the day after the stations opened, I went to one of the stations just down the street (we lucked out having 2 stations within a block from our apartment) and checked out my first Citi bike.  The process was really easy, which I was glad about, and at $9.95 for 24 hours I figured I could really get my money's worth.  It is actually only $149 for a year pass which would be insane if you had a job that you used it everyday, it would by far be the cheapest form of transportation in the city. 

I started my trip early enough that I was able to catch most of the sunrise over Manhattan.  For anyone that follows me on Instagram, you know I love the sunrise over Manhattan, so a lot of these pictures are of that.

It had been well over a year since I had ridden a bike, but I was pretty impressed with myself at how well I did.  I didn't almost fall off or run into anything or anyone but my butt and knees did get really sore!  These bikes are also seriously like tanks.  Really heavy and the hugest turning radius but they do have gears and hand brakes.  I took a break over by Exchange Place and got a couple still almost sunrise pictures.

This is the famous Jersey City Colgate clock.  Watch for it in movies and TV shows, you will see it quite often.  It is the largest free standing clock in the world.  After the clock I sort of started to just randomly ride up and down streets, exploring.  Way quicker and easier than walking!

The Jersey City Korean War Memorial.

The marina in the Morris Canal Basin.

I made it over to Liberty State Park (it is actually really far and out of the way to get there), and didn't find any other people but the entire Jersey City population of Canadian Geese was hanging out on the path.

I was somewhat familiar with the main part of the park, having been over a few times to meet friends and to take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty, but had always kinda just been in and out to the ticket office and ferry.  I decided to check out the Central Railroad of NJ Terminal.  It is still currently closed due to damage from Hurricane Sandy, but the building is beautiful from the outside.  

The piers that were destroyed by Sandy with the Freedom tower in the background.

Right beside the Railroad Terminal building is the Liberty Park Empty Sky Memorial.  We have a smaller one right outside our apartment but this one is massive and beautiful with the names of all the victims of 9/11 and a girder taken from Ground Zero.  The walls line up with where the Twin towers once stood.

I continued down the path in the park and stopped to take a picture of the view of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

No people to hit with my bike on this path!  It was so nice and quiet.

The very heavily guarded bridge to Ellis Island.

Lady Liberty and a friendly Seagull.

Took a panoramic at the very end of the park.  It didn't turn out amazing but it is pretty cool that you can see all of the iconic NY symbols.... The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Freedom Tower and the Statue of Liberty.  Now if only we could see the Brooklyn Bridge too!

The Liberation Monument at the end of the Park.

The U.S Flag Plaza.

I had ridden the entire length of the park, I was at about 9 miles at this point in about 1.5 hours in.  I found this little park that had kind of been over grown since Sandy but it was really nice with no one around and a little dock out in the water.

The Sail of Columbus Monument.  

This was pretty much the entire park, it is so huge!  I made my way home for some relaxing and biking 15 miles.  I did absolutely love being out on the Citibike though.  If you are brave enough to try it in NYC I say go for it, it is a great way to see the city!  Actually I loved it so much I I got Josh to go out with my again on the weekend and we did basically the same trip.  I didn't take much for pictures on this one, but these are the ones I did!  Another great time and even better with some company!