New Years Eve 2011 {Times Square}

Yup. We did it. We saw the ball drop in Times Square on New Years Eve. And even now, after it is all said and done, I still don't know if it was really lame or really cool.

The day started out like the rest of the week, sleeping in and eating at a chain restaurant, but not just any chain restaurant but CPK-California Pizza Kitchen. When we were there, I realized that we ate at CPK years prior on New Years Eve, and I decided that this should become one of our traditions.

While we were there, Pat downloaded an App on his i-phone that allowed him to see a live video stream of Times Square. At 12pm Times Square was PACKED! We were planning on heading over there around 3, but once we saw all those people we got kinda nervous so we headed over ASAP.

In trying to prepare for the night and convincing our friends, Tommy and Amanda, to come with us, we ended up getting to Times Square at the time we had previously planned--3pm--it was a mad house.  There were thousands and thousands of people that had no idea what was going on or where to go, and we were right there with them. All the streets to get to 42nd and Broadway, where all the concerts were going to happened later that evening, were already at full capacity and blocked off. Some how we managed to make into one of several "corrals"along Seventh Avenue from 42nd Street (Times Square) to 59th Street (Central Park).

These corrals where quite interesting. The police would let a certain amount of people within a barricaded space on each block. Once in the corral you were not allowed to leave, if you did, you were not allowed to come back. This was quite a commitment since it was 4pm and we still had 8 hours until the ball dropped. Even though I was sure not to drink much water that day, I still didn't know if my bladder would be able to hold out (I did manage to talk my way out and back in to go to the bathroom, and thank goodness because I learned that my old lady bladder just can't hold out that long). After Pat's Thanksgiving Parade mishap, we also made sure that Tommy and Amanda didn't drink anything prior to coming either. Amanda was quite upset that she couldn't drink a sprite with her pizza and was craving a "lemonade" for the whole 8 hours, but I know she was grateful come 11pm and didn't have to pee.

2012 or bust

I think we played more Uno, in those 8 hours, than I have ever played in my life, combined

The 8 hours waiting for the ball to dropped went by both quickly and slowly. We were not able to hear any of the concerts that were happening during the evening, which was a bummer (it turns out that in order to hear or see all that you needed to be at Times Square at 6am). Every hour, starting at 6pm, they would do a mini count down and celebration for a New Years that was being celebrated some where in the world. This offered a bit of encouragement and excitement that gave us just enough to keep going.

We were really lucky this year because the weather was so unseasonably warm. The coldest it got was probably in the low 40's. So we thought, "if we were going to do this whole Times Square thing, this was the year to do it."

All in all, we had a great time being with our friends. We knew if we weren't there we would just be at home watching it on T.V. wishing we were there.

Relive the last minute of 2011 and the first minute of 2012 with us by watching this video:

Will I ever do this again?

No. 

Was it worth it? 

Maybe not.

Am I glad I did it? 

Most definitely.