happy turkey day

that is the phrase of the day at the parade. such a weird sentiment.
we arrived at central park west at about 6:30 am on thanksgiving morning. i had read online that it was essential to arrive early to get a good spot, so arrive early we did. this is a view of the street at 6:40 am. we sat and watched people and played some video games, and waited. as time passed, rather slowly, the street continued to fill up. next thing i knew, the sidewalk was completely full! finally, it was time for the parade to begin. it starts at 77th street at 9 am, which meant it took fifteen or twenty minutes to reach us, where we were standing between 64th and 65th. the thing that you don't realize, is that performances only happen at particular places, so most of the people are just walking through throwing confetti, and wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving. the weird thing that happened, was that almost all of the supposed celebrities on the floats were completely unknown to zach and i. we only knew who they were due to the screams of the tweens behind us! i think i might officially be old.

we were excited to see the highty-tighties. they were the only band that did some fancy footwork along our part of the route! nothing like a little bit of hokie spirit to make a place feel familiar! the balloons are fun. although oddly enought they seem bigger on television... we think it might have something to do with the scale of the streets in midtown, where nbc broadcasts, versus central park west.
and of course, santa welcomes in the start of the holiday season- and also the end of the parade. we were walking home around 10:30, which was great timing to start cooking! we followed santa down the street for several blocks, which helped us avoid the mass exodus of the rest of the crowd. we had our own thanksgiving late lunch at the apartment during the afternoon. then that evening we went to an "orphan" christmas event in brooklyn. that turned out to be a really good time, and was a great chance to meet some new people. the food was amazing too. for new yorkers to get such a reputation for ordering delivery, there somehow was a collection of some of the best cooks in the city. all together a very busy, but fun thanksgiving day. next year i'll watch the parade on television in my pajamas.