84th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

I'd been planning on going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade here in NYC for a few months now. It was my first Thanksgiving not spent with my family, but I was determined to experience this New York tradition first hand and of course—take pictures!

My wake-up call was 5:45 am. Left the apartment around 6:30 and got to my planned destination along the parade route, which was Columbus Circle, at 7 am. It was awesome. And I had about 6 other friends joining me so there was a lot of frantic texting back and forth so that we could find each other amid the crowds. Joe from I Still Heart New York found us a great spot along Central Park South/59th Street and 7th Avenue. We had a view of the parade as it passed the top corner of Columbus Circle then moved toward us along 59th Street with the trees of Central Park as a backdrop.

Here are some highlights from the parade:

Spiderman


Hello Kitty!


Jessica Simpson


Stars from Macy's Believe campaign


Parade marchers


Kanye West

Unfortunately, Kanye got a lot of boo's from our section along the parade route.
My friend recorded and posted this video and put it on YouTube. Perez Hilton 
soon found it and posted it on his website! 

And from the day before the parade, the Smurf float set-up on West 81st Street by the Museum of Natural History