It was a big weekend for Erica Breder and Aaron Weisinger. The couple made the trip to New York from San Francisco for a long holiday weekend and were then lucky enough to score a couple of tickets to the top of the newly re-opened Statue of Liberty. But the fun didn’t end there. When they arrived at the top, Aaron got down on one knee and popped the question to his girlfriend.
But why the Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July you ask? The holiday has always been special for them, but Aaron felt he wanted to give a nod to both their great-grandparents who arrived at Ellis Island many years ago.
“The thoughts behind the statue and freedom and liberty allowed our parents and great-grandparents before us to have the wonderful lives that we do,” Weisinger told CNN. In gratitude, and very much in love, the newly engaged couple enjoyed the spanning view of the city from the small 8-foot-wide deck inside Lady Liberty’s crown.
This sentimental occurrence will likely remain particularly rare, as new security provisions call for serious crowd control. Only three groups of 10 visitors per hour will be guided to the top by a National Service Park ranger, meaning about 87,000 people will make it to the top each year. It only gets better for those who make it through; with fewer visitors, the 354-step hike now takes 15 to 20 minutes. In the past it took at least an hour and a half.