Thanksgiving Day Parade

Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. Food, football, family, friends, and fun have been a staple of this day for years. But there is one tradition that I always tried to avoid, and that was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It began when I was a kid and Mom would watch the parade pointing out floats she thought we would like. When I felt I was "too old" for the parade, I just told them to let me know when it was over so I could watch football.

Wouldn't you know that I am engaged to a girl who loves the parade as much as Mom did? And since we are in New York, that meant we had to go see it in person.

We began the morning on the Subway and rode it from our place in Brooklyn to 59th Street in Manhattan. It is amazing to us how much nicer the Subway stations are near Times Square than everywhere else.

After exiting the Subway, we surfaced onto the street where there were thousands of people lining the parade route. It is suggested that people watch the parade from 61st through 72nd St to get the best view. It is far away from the media and craziness of Times Square, so that is where we went.

I wanted to get Jenn a good view and a place to take many pictures, so we began checking out streets and they were all severely crowded. I noticed that across the street in Central Park didn't seem to be as crowded, so I made it a mission to cross the parade route and find a place to watch at Central Park. We would have to go past 77th St to pull it off, which is where the parade began. These guys were everywhere keeping the crowds under control.



As we searched for our opportunity, we found a street where some of the balloons were waiting their entry into the parade.



It was 9:00 and the parade had begun. While we missed the beginning, we found another treat. Gladys Night was smiling beautifully as a fan snapped a photo.



The Daily News Float prepares for its departure.



We found our opportunity to cross. The police barriers were no match and Jenn snapped an opportune photo.



Here we are weaving our way through one of the bands as they wait to enter the parade.



Kung Fu Panda enters the parade at 77th St.



We finally found a place where Jenn could see. I had to help her climb over a wall and then help her balance on it, but it provided for a good view of Shrek.



I couldn't see behind the bleachers where she was standing so we climbed back down the wall and walked up to 67th Street and made our way through the crowd to find a place to watch the rest of the parade. The view wasn't as good from the front side of the floats and balloons, but it was the best we could do.

Spidey does his best to clear the trees.



Oh Yeah!



Still going!



Below you can get an idea of the crowd in front of us, across the street, and even in the buildings.



Santa rose up and excited the crowd as his sleigh brought up the rear.



The final three balloons follow Santa.



After the parade passes, people disperse and begin walking down Central Park West, following the parade.



The cops are trying to close off the streets and sections are blocked off. Before being asked to leave, children play in the shredded paper used to simulate snow.



The end of the parade for us happened at around 11:00, about an hour before Santa arrived at Macy's and in your living rooms.