So fellow travelers, the journey to NYC and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade continues

For a kid growing up in the Bronx, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is as iconic as the Jolly Ole Elf who arrives in town at the parades end.  When the announcement came out two years ago that the Baldwinsville Marching Band would be in the Macy’s Parade it was a thrilling moment.  There was no doubt in my mind I would be in the crowd watching those kids march those historic blocks to perform at the star in Herald Square.

So I was not the least bit surprised to find I could not sleep the night before Thanksgiving Day.  My husband was sound asleep well before midnight and by all rights I ought to have been just as tired. We had spent a full day in the city, braving wind gusts and steady rains to visit the 911 Memorial Park ( a deeply moving experience which I will write of at a future time)

Times Square

and the American Museum of Natural History.

Hardy Central New Yorkers are not easily deterred by weather, even when the weather on hand is an early winter Nor’easter.  Still I kept thinking how much I preferred snow to rain when the temperatures hovered around freezing and sleet pelleted my camera creating a haze an impossible to focus through on my lens. A warm lunch with a good friend, whom I had not seen in over 20 years brightened our spirits enough to steel us for a trek uptown to catch the staging of the famous balloons.

I had not had a chance to visit the Hayden Planetarium since it reopened in the The Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space.  The Rose Center for Earth and Space as it is more commonly known (Honestly I prefer the full name. Yes, I know the original is long but why wouldn’t one use a title which incorporates the name Phineas?  Every time a bonded pair of dogs comes into the rescue think of bringing them home and renaming them Phineas and Ferb)  anyways  the Rose Center is spectacular.  To be greeted by a detailed relief globe of the moon is sheer joy for someone who had a map of the moon on her wall and asked for a telescope the Christmas every other girl wanted the Barbie Townhouse.

Just before the planetarium show ( which I cannot blame my Would Be Perfect husband for sleeping through as he drove the whole trip down ) we ran into some fellow band parents one of whom made a point of telling me not to miss the Christmas Tree in the AMNH main lobby.  It had, she said, an origami theme.  I would have just enough time after the show to make it through the building to see it before closing.  This did mean I would have to race through the Biodiversity exhibit and also bypass the dinosaurs which I felt was an irreproachable breech of etiquette since that very exhibit is the one which awakened my interest in science decades ago on a second grade field trip. I did however get to meet my number one American Hero; he graciously consented to a quick photo.

and his excellent museum staff cheerfully pointed us in the right direction where  upon we discovered the tree which this year was a tribute to the movie Night at the Museum,  there was even one piece featuring the Teddy Roosevelt character ( portrayed in the movie by Robin Williams, who yes is indeed in the recently released part Three!)

The origami tree has I discovered been an annual tradition for over 30 years.  We had time to wander through a few more exhibit, until an announcement sent me racing back through the massive halls to get to the Planetarium gift shop before closing to make some Christmas gift purchases.

Across Theodore Roosevelt Park was the staging area for the massive balloons which are a highlight of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. By now the shifting temps had turned the precipitation into large globs of cold slush. I was certainly glad I had opted to leave my DSLR back at the hotel to dry out for the more important photos of the day to come. Still the balloons were massively impressive, held captive by massive nets weighed down by several tons of sand bags.

The Adventure Time balloon, a cartoon show popular with many of the band kids. ( It features an imaginary universe with quirky characters like Lady Rainicorn  a unicorn that speaks Korean.  ) a random balloon we could not identify  and my favorite shot  which I call the Elf on the Shelf face plant or One too many Rum Toddys.

However, it was the moment I saw the Snoopy balloon when it hit me.

My God.

I have a kid who’s in the Parade.

THE Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Performing at Herald Square in a little over twelve hours.

I was suddenly aware I was tired and cold and in desperate need of some kind of warm comfort food.

( to be continued)

So fellow travelers, a week ago Friday, I woke in a jet lagged kind of fog in the spare room at my parents townhouse apartment. My WouldBe Perfect Husband snoring beside me, Favorite Youngest Daughter curled under her travel blanket on the futon by the big bay window.   It took me quite a few minutes to process the events which brought us there. Why did my feet ache so much?  How did I sleep so late (8am)? Why was I so freakin’ dehydrated and tired?

As is my habit, I rewound the events of the past 24….no, wait….. make that 36 hours in my head.  A 2.25 hour drive from my brother’s house near the Oranges in NJ which seemed much longer after an aborted attempt to find a Starbucks open on Thanksgiving Eve. (Thanks Starbucks for hiring my daughter, so we could not even consider getting coffee at the Dunkin Donuts which did seem to be open that evening.)

Recollection of being tired but unable to close my eyes for more than a moment as my insufficiently caffeinated WBP husband navigated the dark and winding back roads leading to my parents residence in Pennsylvania (obviously we made it)  Awake for the entire white knuckle drive through post Nor’Easter slush inspite of the tryptophan coursing through my system after a wonderful Thanksgiving feast complete with both traditional and gourmet side dishes (Shaved brussel sprouts with wild mushrooms and bacon? why don’t mind if I do. Butternut squash braised in coconut milk? yes please!) Oh and no sugar infusion from desserts, as we had to say our goodbyes before the pies and brownies were served. As it was, after sincerely thanking her aunt and uncle for “making it possible for us to have a real Thanksgiving,” my daughter barely made it to the car.  She was asleep within minutes.

Sleep?  yes we had both rested on the brief drive from the PATH station in Journal Square to my brother’s house.  I know she dozed off a few times between stops on the subway ride through Manhattan after hauling her suitcase five or six blocks from the designated pickup location near the USS Intrepid where the bus from their hotel dropped the kids off to meet  parents staying in the NYC area.  I suspect my WBP Husband napped while he waited for us at the parking garage in NJ where we left our car while in the city.  It had not been easy hauling our own small suitcases through the crowds made denser by the line of protestors clustered around the blocks between Penn Station and the 33rd street PATH station.

There may have been reports on the news of a small determined band Mom propelling herself like a tank muttering something the sounded like “Happy Holidays folks, get the fork out of my way.”  If parents missed the ten minute window allowed for the drop off time their kids would return to their hotel and board the main bus caravan headed for home where, at least at my house back in Upstate NY, there wasn’t a turkey basting itself in the oven. Yup, get the fork out of my way folks,  I have a cement hard  NYC vendor pretzel in my free hand and I am not afraid to use it.

The pretzel was a rash, somewhat nostalgic choice for “breakfast” in the mad dash through the course I had plotted through NYC transit.  It was in fact so stale I never ate it, although I did wield it at a few people in my way. They wisely ran for cover. We had lingered at our prime location on the corner of 62nd Street and Central Park West a tad too long, hoping to catch the float with the Pentatonix.  The marching band would be performing their Daft Punk Medley at Herald Square. We watched as long as we could after the band marched by but had to head for our hotel a few blocks away.

Yes, ok. This is why my feet ache. It took the entire three block trek back to our hotel just south of Columbus Circle to regain feeling in my toes. My feet had become solid blocks of frozen flesh while I had been standing on the concrete curb where I had arrived five hours earlier at 5:30am. I realized I had forgotten to pack foot warmers as I was layering on warm clothes at 4am to head forth and stake out a spot for our band parents.  Because the viewing area at Herald Square was VIP ticketing only, parents had organized in small groups and spread ourselves along the parade route decked out in B’ville red and waving signs to cheer our kids on.

Our kids….the Marching Bees of the Baldwinsville Marching Band….first band from Central New York to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade…..this wasn’t a dream… it was a dream come true.

(To be continued)