December 04, 2010

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

So I never got a minute to write down our Thanksgiving holiday adventures. This is probably going to be a long post. So bare with me.

I guess it started out with us leaving town on Wednesday. I took the day off. We went to breakfast (which got interrupted by work), and then drove down to New Haven, CT. We got on an Amtrak train, which was packed! It was a very uncomfortable ride. I kept bumping knees with the guy across from me. And he didn't like it. I got a few crusty faces. We got out at Grand Central. Neither KC nor I had been there before.  And it was all decorated for Christmas. There were wreaths lining the walls and people everywhere! It was fun to see.

We checked into our hotel and then left immediately for the pre-parade Balloon Inflation Event. First off, I've rode the Boston and NYC subways plenty of times. But for some reason I couldn't get my metro card to scan. (it was actually just a brain fart). Some nice guy scanned his through and let me through. However he was the ONLY nice person in the subway terminal right then. THe other people were so impatient with me. It was definitely a frustrating moment. And I was quite embarrassed. I didn't get a chance to thank the guy who helped me, because he went through and took off. So thank you young man, wherever you are!

From there we walked to the Museum of Natural History where the event was taking place. It probably took us an hour waiting in line to just get into the event. And the line was like a street width wide and two blocks back. There were a LOT of people there. KC was hungry and didn't really want to be there since we were going to see the balloons the following day anyway, but I had read that this was really cool. Plus once we decided to wait, we were kind of stuck. Luckily, it wasn't that cold. We had bundled up, but it was probably only 40 degrees.

The first balloon we saw, once we got in, was Shrek. Well, rather we saw Shrek's plaid bum. All the balloons were face down. There were probably 4 blocks worth of balloons. I won't bore you with all of our photos and the details but here are some of my favorites from the night:

Hello Kitty! 
Waiting in line.
Kermit the Frog
Favorite for KC: Spiderman
Buzz Lightyear
Energizer Bunny
Us at the end of the event.

We then got some dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Thanksgiving morning we got up at 6:45am and got ready. We left at around 7:30am and planned to get some breakfast, then get a spot on the parade route. But as we walked along Madison Ave, we noticed how crowded it already was. We walked all the way from 28th to Central park to find a spot. And nothing was really good. No matter where we went we were at least 7 people back. It was a mad house.

Note: I always said that I wanted to go to Times Square on New Year's Eve, but after this adventure, I am completely convinced that you wouldn't see anything, nor be within a 20 block radius of Times Square, so I have removed that from my bucket list.


With our check-out time of noon, and it being 9, we decided to give up on finding a spot and instead go back to the hotel (50 blocks away), check out, have them hold our luggage, and then go for breakfast. 


That was a good decision, on the walk to the subway we passed Rockefeller Center, and I got to see the Christmas tree there, which was one thing I wanted to do.

NYC Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center
KC and I

The tree was somewhat of a surprise. It was big, yes. But it was kind of in shambles. I was surprised how messy it looked. It makes sense, it's been outside growing for years and years. It has weathered much, I am sure. But you picture the PERFECT tree and it wasn't. But it was still great.

After breakfast, we headed back over to the parade route and ended up finding a great spot, this time only 5 people back. But really it didn't matter how far back you were, because all the floats and the balloons were up high. 

Kung Fu Panda
You can kind of tell the crowd, but even being far back,
you could see everything fine.

The favorite again. Your friendly neighborhood spider.
Horton. And in the building to the right. There were 3 girls probably about 8 faces completed pressed against the window. They were freakin out, screaming at all the character balloons. The kids freaked out for Pikachu and Kung Fu Panda. It was really funny. You would have thought the Beatles were coming down the parade on a float.

Me watching. Thanks Kase.
 KC and I. KC is hot, if I might say so.
The pillbury dough boy. I wanted to poke that tummy!
I really liked the smurf.
And as we started to leave, Santa came through bringing in Christmas. But I love this picture because of the minion balloon. It totally cracks me up. Can you see Santa in the background?

After the parade we got our luggage, bought a newspaper, and got on the train home. This time we went to the later train so that we could get one of the rows that only fit two people. It was a much more enjoyable ride, minus the 2 year old in front of us that wanted us to give her animals that she could sing about being on Ol' McDonald's farm.

We got home, rested up, then headed out at 4 am for the Black Friday sales. Which were a disappointment. But we did get a vaccuum, that was desparately needed, since ours broke about 2 years ago. And picked up a few video games and television series.

I made Thanksgiving dinner that day. And it wasn't my best year. I don't think the inside of the Turkey was completely de-thawed. It had been in the fridge for 2 1/2 days, with it brining for 24 hours. But after cooking it for 3 hours (it was a small turkey), I tested the temperature, and everything looked good. But when I cut in, it looked bloody and uncooked. We got a few layers out of it. And though I hesitated to eat it, KC was pretty sure it was fine because of the temperature and the he googled this, and it said that some young birds can "appear to be uncooked" but they actually are fine. I didn't want to risk eating the uncooked looking meat, so we tried tossing it back in the oven, but that was a no go. It just charred. Despite that we did eat Turkey (the small portion that was fine) and all the fixings. And luckily didn't get sick.

We hit a few movies, laid around the house, I sewed and scrapbooked, watched the BYU vs Utah game, and pretty much just chilled the rest of the weekend. All in all, it was a pretty successful holiday!

Now onto Christmas! And in case you've missed it, I have been posting a daily scrapbook page documenting my Christmas experience on my craft blog. Feel free to check it out if you want to see more of what is going on in good ol' Mass.

If you've made it this far, then you are awesome! Have a fabulous day!

3 comments:

  1. Wow!!! What an adventure! I'm so happy that you two are having so much fun. What a cool experience. And way to go on the turkey dinner. I'm much older than you and have never been brave enough to cook my own turkey. Maybe someday! Can't wait too see you guys!!!

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  2. PS I just showed these photos to Gabby and she LOVED them. Especially Hello Kitty! Now she's begging me to take her there. Someday...someday!

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  3. I want to go to this parade SOOO bad. I think Buzz looked amazing. And Kermit. But mostly I just want to see the Sesame Street float go by in person and proclaim my love to Bob and Maria. I would definitely cry over that sighting. You guys do such fun stuff! Thanks for writing about it!

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