Well, I got to cross two things off my bucket list already this year. Nathan's fanatical following of ISU football definitely was in my favor this New Year's...he decided early on that if ISU became bowl eligible we were going to the game...and it turns out they were invited to the Pinstripe Bowl in NYC...my very favorite place in the whole world!! Not only is it my favorite place, and I never turn down a chance to visit...I've always wanted to see the lighted tree in Rockefeller Plaza and see the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve.
I wasn't worried about the tree, but Times Square took a little more planning...so I did my research. I Googled 'New Year's Eve in Times Square' and contacted a few friends for pointers. My one friend's advice was to get there at noon, wear an adult diaper, and bring a flask!
This was my 10th visit to NYC and I'll have to say, I've never packed like this before...I made sure to pack food and hand warmers....and you can't just buy one or two Depends...they only come in like packages of 18!! I'm pretty sure these things don't biodegrade...so they'll still be good until I really need to use them in 60 years...
We flew in the night before the game. Nathan hasn't been back to the city for 10 years...aka when we got engaged...and he was only there for about 24 hours and didn't get to see anything...so I took him on my own personal walking tour.
The tree was so pretty all lit up!
The Today Show set...
We came prepared with signs hoping to get on TV...
...but our signs got no love :( We had good seats but we were in the second level and we couldn't get the cameramen to look up!
The game was in the new Yankee Stadium. We took the subway (the D train) to the Bronx...
We met up with some of my sorority sisters before the game for lunch and drinks! We hung out at Stan's near the stadium before the game...it was crazy packed! We were all fired up as ISU was favored by 2 points going into the game.
ISU played Rutgers and our team looked pretty flat. We scored first but eventually Rutgers took the lead and the final score was 27-13. As of today, we are still the only Big 12 team that hasn't won their bowl game....oh, to be an Iowa State fan.....
After the game, we hung with some of Nathan's fraternity brothers that drove an RV out to the game.
New Year's Eve day we spent the morning walking around a very brown Central Park....
...trying to build up the courage to don our diapers and brave the crowds....
We had beautiful weather the whole time we were there...in the 50's. The 'experts' say it was the warmest New Year's in 25 years...which also meant there would be record crowds! I had looked for alternative ways to see the ball drop instead of sitting outside for hours on end....but as you can imagine they were extremely expensive and on such short notice (we didn't find out the bowl destination until Dec. 3) virtually impossible. One must book a hotel room overlooking Times Square for NYE at least a year in advance..and they can easily run up to $1000 a night. Planet Hollywood, The Olive Garden, and TGI Friday's all hold parties on NYE but a regular ticket costs up to $250, VIP is $350, and Super VIP is $1200 a person!!..and they were already sold out.
So we suited up and headed toward Times Square around 2:30. I will say the Depends weren't as uncomfortable as one might think they are!! NYPD starts shutting down streets into Times Square around 2 pm...and start filling up the pens. Security is pretty tight since 9/11 and you have to first pass through a security check point where they check your bags and run a wand over you. Once you are in the pens...you have to stay in the pens or lose your 'place'. Once you leave you aren't allowed back in. Four or five blocks of pens were already filled with people and the weak were already starting to leave. The people who are actually by the stage where the NYE broadcasts happen pretty much had to camp out the night before to get their prime spots...I maybe crazy for wanting to do this....but I'm NOT THAT crazy!! :)
The first spot we tried to get into was super chaotic...I couldn't see anything and people were pushing something terrible...I was literally scared of getting crushed and or falling down and being trampled. People were pushing so bad the 2012 glasses I had bought Nathan were cracked in half in his coat. I was almost ready to give up and head back to the hotel. But we kind of followed the crowd farther north and were able to make it into a pen.
We ended up on the corner of 51st and 7th Ave. The purple pin is One Times Square or where the ball is dropped and the red pin is where we watched it from. People are in pens all the way back to Central Park. We had a perfect view of the ball....we could hear some of the performances from the stage and they were projected on the big screens under the ball.
Pizza delivery guys were selling pizza to the crowds, $5 for a bottle of water, $10 for personal sized cheese pizza, $25 for a medium sized cheese pizza. We caved and bought a pizza...the granola bars just weren't cutting it.
It was so fun to watch the people. You saw people of all ages...I saw an elderly woman in our pen and one family from Ohio brought three young boys to sit for 9 hours!! There probably wasn't a single true New Yorker in our pen. We probably had about 1000 people in our pen...the pens are almost a block wide and about 1/2 a block long. We were sitting with people from West Virginia, North Carolina, and a group of Chinese students. I scoped out a space along the side so we could lean against the barricades. The family from North Carolina were celebrating their daughter's sweet 16 birthday...her birthday was Jan. 1 and this was her birthday present. People were playing charades, playing cards, listening to music, watching movies on their ipads...all sorts of stuff to pass the time.
NYPD was everywhere and we got to know 'our officer' pretty well...Officer Rodriguez...he was a young guy who had just graduated from the academy. He thought we were all crazy! As the night wore on we gradually lost more and more people from our pen as they decided it wasn't worth the wait...or they had to use the restroom. (They clearly hadn't gotten the Depends memo!!) I don't know how many times Officer Rodriguez had to explain that if people left the pens, they couldn't get back in again.
We were pleasantly surprised on how well everyone behaved. There was no alcohol allowed in the pens and no one was loud or obnoxious.
The big names that performed were Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Drake, and Pitbull.
Lady Gaga and Mayor Bloomberg
My pictures of the ball don't really do it justice and they look way farther away than we really were. Here's our last shot before the ball dropped!!
It was an experience of a lifetime...so glad I did it....but I don't really need to do it again...unless it's from a hotel room!! Nathan even admitted he was glad he did it!
I couldn't have done it without this guy...
Not many men would wear an adult diaper for their spouse and sit outside for 9 hours (neither of us needed to use the diaper I might add...we managed to hold it until we got back to the hotel) to watch a ball drop...it's a true testament of his love for me! I will be indebted for life to him for helping me cross this off my bucket list. He didn't complain or give me a hard time once the whole time! Thank you Nathan!! That's why I love you!! It's a memory I will cherish forever!
I will have to admit...I'm a little worried about what he's going to make me do off of his bucket list!
