I was just thinking today about New Years Eve 2000/2001 - how much fun that weekend was. I flew to New York City with my good friends, Becky and Marissa.
We saw the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall and during our visit out there a major snow storm hit the city and it practically brought the city to a standstill. The Mayor came on TV to let the citizens know about the roads and traveling on them and I remember how funny we thought it was that the mayor of New York was on the news regarding it.
Here is a photo of me standing outside in the snowstorm.
They brought out dump trucks and bull dozers and scooped all the snow from the roads into the trucks and then took the snow and dumped it. I'd never seen anything like it - the snow was gone from the roads by the time we were ready for the New Years Eve celebrations.
We really had a great time tromping through the snow and enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. Here is a fun photo of me - requested at the time courtesy of my friend Becky - I am supposed to a be sleeping bum on the subway.
Here we are on Times Square securing our spot to watch the ball fall. Our hotel was just down the street from the ABC Studios that you see on TV with the strolling news - and that is about where we are standing in this photo. Now as amatueur Times Square celebrators, we thought we had to get out there early and early it was. We secured our spot at about 1:00 in the afternoon - and this is where we hung out all day!!! Let's just say as the evening rolled on - we were exhausted from standing there and realized that we pretty much wasted our day - as we could have gotten there much later and still been this close, especially since our hotel was right there!
This was the third time I had been to New York over New Years Eve - the first time I went out there I spent my time with some friends who lived there. They were from the area and had no desire to go out to the area to watch the ball fall. That was back in the early 90's, then I went with my husband and a couple other friends in 1998/1999. We got out there too late and ended up a few blocks away and was part of the celebrations, but didn't get to see the ball fall.Well, I always wanted to see the ball fall and as close as we were this time - if you have heard the story before, you know the ending...but, if you've never heard the ending to this story - it's a sad one. The ball came down and our family and friends back home were watching on TV to see if they could "spot" us in the crowd...and Becky, Marissa and I were sound asleep in our bed back at the hotel. How did this happen? Well, we had stood out there all day and almost all night, to the point that we couldn't feel our feet anymore and we were downright exhausted. Around 7 p.m. or so, they wanted to head back to our room and I insisted we stay out there - afterall, we came to NY to see the ball fall. Same story at 8, then 9...then 9:30 came and I couldn't take it anymore. We were starving, freezing and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. We stopped at the deli across from our hotel, got some hot soup, went back to our room, ordered more room service - ate all that food, closed the curtains to our room - this part is the best - you could see the ball from our room, but we were so tired of the ball - we closed the curtains - swore off the ball forever - turned off the lights and went to sleep before Midnight! Unbelievable!
This is what memories are made of and even though I didn't get to totally fulfill my desire to see the ball fall and the streamers coming down - I did get to experience a large part of this and maybe one day...just one day I will actually be there to see the ball drop.
See you in 2009!
Dawn
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