By Joseph Frederick, Matthew Brown and Susan Montoya Brown , The Associated Press and Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun
NEW YORK — Crowds of people loaded onto boats to tour the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Wednesday morning with no immediate signs of the government shutdown that is triggering the furlough of about two-thirds of National Park Service employees.
But in Philadelphia, the nation’s birthplace, tourists enjoying a crisp fall morning on Independence Mall were thwarted in their hopes of visiting the Liberty Bell. They were being turned away at the entrance and could only steal glances of it inside a glass pavilion.
And in Aspen, access to the Maroon Bells during peak leaf-peeping season appears to be day-to-day.
Access varied widely across the more than 400 s