Central Park a few hours before midnight.

Kim and I love being in the quiet park knowing there are a literal million people a mile down the road.

Wrapped building and the snowflake my mom talks about every time I mention New York City.

The you-know-what. If you don't know what, that's the Rockefeller Center tree. I mean you probably at least knew it was a tree.

The revelers leaving Times Square a few minutes after midnight.

Back up to the car at 88th Street the next day, a fresh coating of snow on the cars, none of which have moved.

It was a pretty perfect trip. Just a one-day job. Though we did stay at a random hotel in Milford, CT, the night before, and for the first time in our lives checked out Ye Olde Mystyck Village or whatever. Fun. Lit up for the holidays. Good Asian restaurant. Anyway we got to our Maison Pickle rez on time for our NYE brunch. MASSIVE tiramisu French toast. Fries of course. Which they call frites, and I have Kim order those because one time I tried to order them there, and I got corrected on the pronunciation! Then it was on to a visit with Zack, who introduced me to the place. After the original ending of this blog, I really got to know Zack as a real-life friend, and even did some videographing for him. Kinda cool to know you shot and edited (with his help on both ends) a video that got 468,000 views! 

Is anyone reading? Thanks. So we checked into our awesome hotel that we get for free. We've spent NYE (or a few days before) in NYC almost every year for a couple decades, and we usually get this hotel, though we often stay with friends, of which we are lucky to have many of who live there. A lot of generosity going on around us. Yay, friends and family. 

Then (it's dark out from now on, for your imagining pleasure) it was on to see one of the aforementioned friends, who fans of this blog know well. The Chan man!! Had dinner with him at Rosa Mexicano, in the Empire Hotel, where I stayed in 1988 at my dad's Peace Corps reunion. On the same reunion, not long after the Buckner play, we played baseball in Central Park, and a grounder went through my legs, and then got past the woman playing right field (I give her exactly 50% of the blame!), to score the winning run. Damn. Oh well, I got to play slap-the-red with Emily and Allegra Wiles and stay up really late. I also went to the Hard Rock Cafe and somehow missed the giant King Kong made of Legos.

Where the eff was I?? Ah yes, Chan and Kim and I at the Rosa, getting awesome Mexican food. Oh, before meeting Chan we did our usual tree/rink excursion, and saw the light display on 5th Avenue. Kim checked out St. Pat's while I walked around the closed streets taking in the atmosphere. I love NYE in NYC, it's a special feeling. As you know I did Times Square three years out of four in the 90s. Kim definitely never wants to do it. But I'd do it again if she said the word! Spoiler: she'll never say it.

So after dinner we did our traditional walk through Central Park. With a bonus Lincoln Center walk and an impromptu Ghostbusters tour along Park West. There was a very minor snow squall, so small that I din't even get any photos of it. But we'll take it. Got to 57th Street and didn't need the card the hotel gives us saying we're allowed to pass the barricades, but we did see people lined up along 57th going AWAY from Times Square. My theory is they'd been sent from the next avenue over that way, to follow a route to get back over once again and into the pens. So we passed all of them and arrived at the 24-hour grocery store...that closed at 9. But right across the street was a tiny bodega and the FIRST thing I saw was sparkling cider! I almost needed a ladder to get it. An old couple saw me holding it and asked where to get it. I pointed up. The guy was excited to get his "champagne!" I said Nope. He said Same thing. I said Nope again. So we got our cider and our sweets as per tradition and walked right back across to our hotel.

Chan brought Scrabble. (Gonna stop saying what's traditional. It all is.) We started our game at 10:30 and watched......  you HAVE to know this! Twilight Zone! If you thought I watched it a lot in my old blogging days, hoo-whee, are you in for a surprise. It's constant now. Except for December when I stop myself from watching as not to "ruin" the NYE Marathon. I'm watching right now as I type, on 1/6. Kick the can! 

They played Midnight Sun at 11:00. I led Chan by 70 points. The ball dropped. We woke Kim up 5 minutes before. We watched the crowds leave the square out the window. Chan came back and beat me. What?! Yes, what a comeback. I did give him a few mulligans along the way though. He's beaten me a handful of times in hundreds of games so I give him full credit. (But did conveniently type out that mulligan line, I noticed. As did you.)

Next day we took the 1 train back up to our car (snow had fallen overnight), drove over to the East Side, and met back up with Chan in his neighborhood for Pho. Which is pronounced "fah"! It's like that later Kiss song. I just wanna fuh! I just wanna fuh! I just wanna fuh-get youuuu! 

This trip was perfect. My timing and estimating was impeccable. Remember the time I was with Chan on Staten Island and predicted to the minute when we'd make it back to his apartment and even HE was impressed for once? Yeah it was like that. The whole time. We're back to work after our 5-day weekend and..  who me? Oh that's right, when I stopped blogging, I was still working with elderly, which I did for 9 more years. Now I work with IDD adults. It's amazing. They're amazing. Anyway I'm back to work but planning the Fort Myers trip!

This was fun. I should do it more. See ya soon?