Macy’s Travel Log Part 3

2:30 p.m., Thanksgiving:

Today, the day of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, I slept for a record two hours! Everything that happened between the 1:15 a.m. rehearsal until now is mostly a blur, but I’ll try to tell as much as I can.

Last night, I remember sleeping at 8:30 for two hours and lying awake for another hour before finally giving up on sleeping. Around 11:30 p.m., my roommates and I started preparing for the parade, and around an hour later, arrived at the ballroom to change into uniforms.

I remember that the band and guard went down on 6th Avenue at 2 or 3 a.m. to practice our fieldshow. It was rather dark, and lights shining from the top of skyscrapers blinded and distracting me. The wind blew in gales, and I was cold, despite wearing thermals and the marching band uniform.

At around 6:30 a.m., the band and guard, after a quick buffet at Bowlmor Lanes, were waiting on the streets, waiting to get onto 6th Avenue to start the parade.

When we did get on the street to perform (which was about two to three hours later), I was feeling pretty awake. I saw various celebrities like Miss America and bands such as Neon Trees, and behind the band was a giant balloon of Papa Smurf.

The band and guard marched along 6th Avenue for around 40 or so minutes, but it felt much longer because I had never really marched three miles, much less in New York and in such a prestigious parade. The band and guard cycled through a total of three songs, and percussion played a cadence between each song. A lot of adults and children were cheering for us, shouting “Happy Thanksgiving,” and demanding us to smile for photos.

Before reaching the Macy’s star, the band and guard was marching in a block, following the street for three miles. I could hear nothing but the band playing music and the crowd cheering, and I could feel nothing except for my arms burning, straining to lift a 15-pound marching baritone.

At last, we arrived at the Macy’s star and performed our 90-second fieldshow, which NBC and other networks recorded to be on TV nationally. The audience cheered wildly during the performance, and in the end, I was ecstatic and never felt so accomplished in performing a fieldshow and parade routine that we, as a band, learned literally two weeks ago.

I thought that it was definitely worth traveling across the country to get on a few minutes of national TV. Before, I felt excited at being able to perform in New York, but now I feel satisfied to know that everyone did their best to represent Saratoga to the nation.

 

11:30 p.m.:

Everyone met at the New York ballroom at 5 p.m. to go on a cruise ship around the Hudson River. We got to see the Statue of Liberty in real life and had an actual Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and other Thanksgiving foods.

Another first for me was having a party of about 60 people on literally 25 square feet of dance floor. All I can remember is the stereo blasting out Top 40 hits, and various band and guard members eagerly inviting staff members to join them. 

After the party, everyone went back to the hotel, and the last thing I remember before falling asleep was promising to go to a party at 3:30 a.m. tomorrow.

 

11 p.m., PST, Friday, Nov. 23:

I remember waking up at 3:50, 20 minutes too late, and when I came to our meeting place, there was no one there. After 10 minutes, and having no positive results, I went back up to my room and crashed on the floor.

The next thing I knew, the clock in my room read 8:45 a.m., and 15 minutes later, I arrived at the New York Ballroom in the Sheraton Hotel for the awards ceremony. I saw a lot of people that probably pulled all-nighters or went Black Friday shopping.

There were serious awards, such as MVPs and Most Improved, and there were also silly awards, such as Most Flirtatious and Next Exotic Dancer. 

After the awards ceremony, the World Projects staff told us when our flights would depart. My flight was the first to leave. During the hour of free time that I had, a friend and I bought breakfast from a street vendor and joined another group for souvenir shopping. My flight departed at 5:30 EST, and arrived at San Francisco at 9:00 PST.

Now safely at my house in Saratoga, I can say that the Macy’s trip was among the top two tours I have ever had, the other tour being my 8th grade trip to Disneyland. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends, old and new, explored New York for the first time and just had a good time without worrying about homework.