From the multitudes of gaping, photosnapping tourists to the slurry of souvenir shops across the islands, to the two near-strip searches we underwent - the romantic notion of this place and its past is gone. This once-great memorial to the freedom and hopes to be found in America, now perverted into a uber-patriotic, self-worshipping altar of consumerism and slackjawed tourism; not to mention the rampant mentality of paranoia and fear looming over the island like the shadow of that colossus that hung above our heads. After a quick stop in at the island eatery, the idyllic photo-ops had to stop for a moment. On the way into the base of the statue, we passed a "no photography" sign, and entered a tent where we were throroughly metal-detected and scanned with a GE mass spectrometer that "sniffed" us all for explosive material. After passing through the tent, we proceeded behind the spiked steel fence to the statue. As for the base of the pedestal, that is now the highest you can go for fear of people attacking the higher portions of the statue, or jumping down her 306 foot drop. This paranoia seems to only serve the purpose of fearmongering, and worsening the situation.
All this political ranting rhetoric aside, don't get me wrong, it was a very fun trip with the family.
And Some humor to close it out:
A birthday shout-out to Cody! He cranks it regularly.
see ya tomorrow, links are yet to come, and who knows what else.
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