Americans treat Thanksgiving much like Australian's treat Christmas. The day before everyone travels home. So much so that Thanksgiving Eve is the most popular travel day of the year. At work the office was empty and the mood was festive. We left a little early and retreated to a Mexican bar to eat nachos and drink Margaritas. The plan was to take it easy and observe the famous Thanksgiving Eve night out. We were disappointed when the place closed early at 8:30pm.
Never mind! Most of our party had early flights and Lizard and I wanted to be up in time to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. My plan was to be at Lizard's house by 9:30am. I left my building and was surprised the find the street lined with Yellow Cabs. Normally it is close to impossible to get a cab outside my apartment, but with everybody gone for the holiday there was a surplus. The luxury. Already this day was shaping up to be wonderful.
Lizard's apartment is on seventh avenue and her roof top gave us a spectacular view of the Parade. On the street it was crowded and it was impossible to see anything - so we were lucky to be able to go upstairs and watch from above.
Despite the unseasonably warm weather it was freezing on the roof. We bundled up and cuddled up as we watched the floats move slowly down Seventh.
It was exciting and so much fun. We could hear the music from the marching bands and see the costumes and crowds. The Power Rangers were impressive (Green did a flip), but I liked the guys dressed up as bread and butter. The Hawaiian marchers in tracksuits and hula skirts were fun, however my favorite part of the parade was easily the giant floats. These huge characters towered over the city. Lizard and I guessed which character would come around the corner next and took thousands of pictures. Snoopy...? Snoopy...? Snoopy!!! It was like being part of a magical toy land. I was buzzing!
When the cold was too much to handle we retreated to Lizard's apartment for a short coffee and pop tart break. It was wonderful being inside in the warm and I watched the parade on TV while Liz Googled interesting parade facts. We were not upstairs for long though - we didn't want to miss too much!
We were back in time for Kermit and the grand final of Santa Clause. Santa was a bit of a let down though. I was expecting a little more magic.
With the parade over we had a few hours to kill before Bolt arrive from Houston. She would be staying with me for the weekend and joining Liz and I for Thanksgiving dinner. As we awaited her arrival, we watched a few episodes of I didn't know I was pregnant, then headed downstairs to inspect the damage from the parade.
The streets were closed and construction workers were focused on getting the traffic lights back up and running. The lights are taken down during the parade to reduce the risk of injuries. Giant floats can be dangerous!
The worst accident came in 1997, when...winds blew The Cat in the Hat into a lamppost, causing the metal arm to fall off and hit 33-year-old Kathleen Caronna on the head. Caronna spent nearly a month in a coma, then sued Macy's and the city for $395 millionWhen Bolt arrived from the airport her phone was dead. We were concerned she would be unable to find us. Never fear, the NYPD were there to help. The official-helpers-to-the-tourists out did themselves when a wonderful lady cop offered to lend Bolt her personal phone.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1862565,00.html#ixzz1fFpZbqlo
When I first saw Bolt she was lit up with excitement, a ray of sunshine. After one month without a day off she was happy to be free and be in NY. Seeing her made an already wonderful day incredible. Liz and I took her up to Lizard's apartment and she was impressed.
Bolt: I love it!
Lizard: It's terrible
Bolt: No way... It's awesome! You have your own apartment in New York City!
Lizard: Most nights I cry myself to sleep
With a few hours to kill before our turkey dinner Liz and I took Bolt to see Time Square. With the streets still closed to traffic it was a good day for it. We wandered along the middle of the road, only occasionally having to jump to the side when a police car sounded its siren. At one point the car stopped and the Officer wound down his window and announced into his microphone "Move along Sponge Bob!"
Huh? ... What did he just say? The Officer got out of the car and we realized what was going on. There was a man right by us dressed up as Sponge Bob behind us. Sponge Bob must have been doing something wrong because the Officer gave him a stern talking to. This upset Sponge Bob who departed, hunched over and visibly deflated. Poor guy!
With that, it was time for us to go to and we headed downtown to SoHo for dinner. I had made a reservation at Burger and Barrel for 4:30pm.. that seemed like the time that people eat Thanksgiving dinner. When we arrived at the place, to Bolt's amusement, it was already getting dark.
Bolt: Can you blog about how it gets dark early
Me: That's not blog worthy
Bolt: But remember that time it got dark early!
Me: Yeah everytime.... for three months
The restaurant was cool, with a dark and funky New York vibe. However, we quickly realized our reservation was pointless. We were the only people there. Guess it makes sense... most people have a family... lives...
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| yelp.com |
Ordering was easy... Turkey, turkey, turkey!
I forced Lizard and Bolt to say what they were thankful for (like a real American family). Bolt took the cake for best thanks: "I am thankful to not be at work for the first time in 24 days."
And with that... we ate!
Afterwards we headed to a local pub for a quiet drink. After a month in the very American Houston hanging with the boys, Bolt complained that she was in desperate need of girl talk. We gossiped and Liz and I made up stories using place mats and napkins. When the waitress finally took our props off us it was time to go home. We were full of delicious food, buzzing from an exciting day and ready for bed.
What a wonderful Thanksgiving and the perfect way to welcome Bolt to New York. Happy Thanksgiving!
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