Governors Island

This summer, in researching fun things to do with le petit prince (I'm trying different handles for the baby), I came upon Governors Island. It is situated in the Upper New York Bay, accessible only by ferry. It has no residential tenants, one school which opened up in 2010, as well as artists' studios, which also opened up in 2010. It was called Governors Island in British colonial times because it housed the royal governors. Then it became a military base and then a Coast Guard base. The state took it over in 2003 for a symbolic $1 (that really smarts!) but 13% of the island was designated as the Governors Island National Monument - it is this 13% that is now open to the public on weekends from April to October. I had been trying to get to Governors Island with the baby all summer and discovered that this past weekend was the very last weekend before it was closed until next Spring. So, making the most of my injury leave from work, the baby and I made our way over to Governors Island on the very last day! It's a quaint island, the aesthetics reminded me of being on a college campus. We spent most of our day on the man-made beach area overlooking the bay, Water Taxi Beach, where we had a tasty lunch of cheeseburger, fries, pickle, tomato, lemonade and watermelon. The baby loved the sand and watching all the kids playing. We took a nice stroll around the perimeter of the island, as far as I could without missing one of the last ferries back to Manhattan - the ferries don't run very late. In the end there was a lot more to see, which just gives us more to look forward to when we return next year!

On the ferry to Governors Island

Enjoying lunch

Collecting sand

Watching airplanes