Yes.
At the beginning of December, the Gregman and I (ok, mostly the Gregman), had these grand ideas for possibly going to New York City for the New Year's weekend with his sisters and a husband. As terribly fun and adventurous as that would have been (honestly), we just couldn't jump the hurdle from mass group texting about flight prices to actually purchasing flights.
So we stayed here. And did the next best thing.
Party in downtown SA! Whoop!
And we went all out for it too. I mean, I kind of wore real clothes. And shoes that weren't my brown work Keens.
And we took the VIA bus.
It was kind of a pain and took ages but an adventure nonetheless and I obviously took terribly blurry and terribly awkward photos of it all.
And also stood around at a bus stop for 8 years. Let me tell you, you have never experienced people-watching unless you have stood at a bus stop for 8 years. Because now I feel 8 years more cultured.
But the bus eventually got there and grumbled along towards downtown and not too many tens of minutes later we were immersed in this!
Ah-ha-ha favorite! I'm just going to disclaimer right now that pretty much every picture has the Tower of the Americas in it. Because it's really the focal point of this celebration. And it was basically my camera-magnet all night.
We made our way a few blocks from the bus stop to HemisFair Park where all the action was going down and, wipe the sweat off my brow, it was a party!
Pee-acked. Six stages sporting bands. And, if you're like me, and you weren't too awfully fond of the music...
...you could at least be awfully fond of the hats...
...or the artwork on the side of the carnival buses...
...or all the lights on the carnival rides.
I took a lot of pictures of the lights.
Because I certainly wasn't going to pay $4 to ride one. Dollars are cleverly disguised as "tickets" here, don't be fooled
We joined the party around 9pm. And it was hustles and bustles of fun for about 15 minutes. But then I realized I was standing and getting really tired of standing and not really feeling like partaking in any of the immediate festivities.
That's about when I noticed the golden arches gloriously rising above the hordes.
Bingo! So what if we spent the last couple hours of 2011 chilling at the Mickey of D's? (my life is excitement, I know).
It was actually a party there too though.
We put on our "Really?" faces and joined the line. Reese's McFlurry for myself. M&Ms for the GregMcFlurry. There was a disagreement and a lengthy discussion about why M&Ms should or should not be put in frozen foods like icecream while we waited. I've decided he orders it because he knows I won't eat it all. The nerve...
Food devouring was interspersed with chatting about possible trips to the South Pacific and the luxuries of international flights and tales of New Zealand. And some researching into which bus we'd need to take back. Also, Greggins grew a head out of his shoulder, isn't that cool??
We made it back out onto the streets in time for the countdown. Listen carefully and let me tell you.
Oh. My. Energy.
I was dead set at this point to never come back downtown to ring in the New Year. (unless I rented a hotel room and could watch it from my balcony and go right to sleep after). (maybe bedtime is important to me). But that ten minutes leading up to the new year and the ten minutes after are just such a blast! (pun not intended).
There were drunk people running around and girls flashing all sorts of body parts unintentionally and noise makers and blinking hats and screaming and cheering and police cars and policeman with quarter light sabers and kids shooting water guns and green laser lights dancing around on the buildings and clouds of cheap cigarette smoke and puffs of expensive cigar smoke and just hundreds of thousands of people all gathered together to welcome a new year to humanity.
I'm a sucker for being around hundreds of thousands of crazy excited people. As long as I'm not driving. Or late to something.
11:59 hit and the elevator started climbing the Tower of the Americas with big beam spotlights shooting out for all to see. It steadily made its way to the top...anticipation building...until it literally hit the roof and knocked that 1 into a 2.
2012!!
And then the craziest things began to happen. The fireworks started off slow.
And gradually grew in grandeur. (come on, say that sentence again, the flow!).
But then this ginormously massive tentacled jelly fish tried to attack the Tower.
But it exploded.
And all mayhem broke loose.
Or maybe I just couldn't take clear pictures of the fireworks show without a tripod?
I'll let you decide.
Either way, it was a cool show. And I might go back again just for it. Only I'd get there closer to midnight and skip all the pre-show stuff.
And maybe really fork out for that hotel room. Because, riding the bus, it took me almost 2 hours to get home from downtown. On a normal night, that's a 20 minute drive. Tops.
Tired Kyoo! But it sure was a fun way to ring in the new year! I even got my kiss. (cover your eyes). The only thing lacking was sparkling Martinelli's. Next year?
Have a great day :-)
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