I flew in to LaGuardia this morning, and my destination is eventually Acadia National Park in Maine. but, since I am in New York, I better go to an NPS property, right? The one that seemed to be the easiest to get to in Manhattan traffic was the General Grant National Memorial. I set out to find it, which was relatively easy - but parking was a WHOLE other story!! I actually had to pull over and look up what some of the parking signs meant. Apparently, NYC sweeps the streets twice a week, and so you can't park on one side of the street or the other on specific days during 11-2. Of course, it was 11 when I got there! I found a parking structure adjacent to a SUPER cool church - it was called the Riverside Church, and it was absolutely stunning! It was apparently opened in 1930 by John Rockefeller, and it is the tallest church in the US. Very cool, but that wasn't what I was there to see.

Across the street from the church is the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial. The Memorial itself is ridiculously huge. I think it will be there in 1000 years. There is also an overlook of the river, and below the overlook is a visitor center. In the visitor center, as usual, there is a great movie. The movie explained Grant's rather mundane life until the Civil War, then his leading the Union Army to many victories during the war, followed by his presidency. It was interesting to learn that he was pushing for equal rights for all citizens after the Civil War - about 100 years before some of the things he was pushing for actually happened.

#NewYork