This Thanksgiving, my wife and I went to New York City! It’s been one of her dreams to visit NYC and attend the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. This was the first time I’ve ever been, despite having done my PhD in upstate New York.
The parade was a great time! It officially started at 9:00 am Thanksgiving Day, but it took 30 minutes to reach us at our vantage point at 6th Avenue and 48th Street. We arrived very early to see it — reaching the parade route at 7:30 am — but still ended up about three rows back from the street. This wasn’t a big deal, because we still had a great view and the parade goers around us were remarkably friendly and enthusiastic.
I took TONS of photographs at the parade! I’m posting the highlights in a gallery below the fold, for those who are interested in seeing what Macy’s parade looks like when not carefully edited for television.
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- Waiting for the parade to start.
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- The Girl Scouts of New York.
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- Official parade banner.
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- Hello Kitty!
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- Flying pumpkins.
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- Kermit the Frog!
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- Charlie Brown vs. the football.
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- Closeup of Charlie Brown.
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- Peanuts!
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- Actual cleanup crew (got lots of cheers).
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- Criminal bulldog…
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- … chased by the NYPD!
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- Sesame Street! Big Bird has a job!
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- Kung-Fu Panda!
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- Jimmy Fallon rocks out.
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- Performers from Mexico.
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- Giraffe.
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- Julius!
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- Toucan performer.
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- Native American float.
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- Lovely patriotic wagon.
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- Cloe the (creepy) Holiday Clown.
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- Ben Franklin marches in the parade.
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- Uncle Sam & Miss USA.
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- Don McLean rockin’ out!
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- Spider-Man!
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- Liberty Torch.
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- The Brooklyn Bridge, featuring “The Wanted.”
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- A Pokeball…
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- … chased by Pokemon!
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- One of the many marching bands performing. I think this was the “Robocops.”
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- “Neon Trees” with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oh, and a fireman.
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- Zhu Zhu Pets!
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- Spongebob!
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- Whoopie Goldberg!
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- Whoopi as the pirate ship’s figurehead.
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- Dragon!
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- Papa Smurf!
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- The Smurfs.
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- Best I can guess? A tribute to polyhedra.
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- Uh… I got nuthin’.
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- The NYPD marching band.
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- The rapper Flo Rida on the Big Apple.
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- Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
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- Caterpillar.
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- Kool Aid — “Oh, yeah!”
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- Mickey Mouse!
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- Pop stars Megan & Liz.
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- The Marion-Carole Showboat.
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- Beth balancing a basketball on her finger.
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- “Kareem Abdul Jabbar? No, my name is: Roger-Murdock.”
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- Sonic the Hedgehog!
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- The U.S. women’s gymnastics team!
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- Mr. Peanut.
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- Beth pokes the Pillsbury Doughboy’s belly. “Tee-hee!”
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- Dora the Explorer’s Christmas.
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- “Aflac!”
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- Country singer Trace Adkins.
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- Elf on the Shelf!
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- A snowflake.
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- Buzz Lightyear!
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- Classic Santa balloon.
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- Mannheim Steamroller.
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- “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
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- Balloon elves.
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- Santa finally arrives!
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- The end of the parade: “Believe.”
There were so many parade pictures, and not too much to say about them, so I simply put them in a gallery! I’ll do a more detailed post about the rest of our trip to NYC soon.
Skulls in the Stars 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAWS_%28artist%29