I love this city! The island of Manhattan of New York City is one of my favorite places to visit. There is so much to see and do here. Back in 2015, when we came here as a family our first time, we stayed in the Essex House just off of Central Park. We also got to go to a show on Broadway and visit a few museums. This time around we didn’t have the same amount of time that we did then and we prioritized a few other things while here as well.

The key highlight of this trip was being able to take our two older children to perform proxy baptisms in the Manhattan New York Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We stayed in the RV park just across the river in New Jersey. From there, we took the train into the city and walked out into the beautiful Oculus Transportation Hub. This was a treat. It has been since 2015 since any of us had been to the city so this was something new for all of us. What a beautiful train station this was. It is certainly not the old look and feel that you get in Grand Central, but the modern design is uniquely modern and very appealing to the eye.

From there we had to visit Hamilton’s grave and the church. After our traditional stop at Shake Shack, we made our way over to the Staton Island Ferry to ride by Lady Liberty. This is the best free way to see the Statue of Liberty up close. We then made our way up Manhattan taking in the sights and sounds of the city.

We ended our tour of New York at the temple, Central Park, and then Times Square before taking the subway and train back to our lovely black van.