Sunday, July 6, 2008

4th of July - New York style

What do you do on the 4th of July in New York? I don't think New York has ever been known for its Independence Day celebration, but there are definitely some unique things that happen in this city, and we were able to find a couple. First, how could we miss the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island?

As you can see by her smile, Maisie loved the experience. Also, if you look really closely you will see policeman on top of the Nathan's building in the background. I have never seen hotdogs taken so seriously :)

We had a great time wandering around Coney Island (for about an hour), we decided we had seen enough and will probably never return, especially to go to the beach. This is what the beach looked like.

As you can see, there aren't really a lot of places to lay out, and the water isn't all that blue either. The most exciting part of the trip was the "sudden death overtime" in the hotdog eating contest. Never had I been so concerned that the overtime might actually result in sudden death. After tying at 59 hotdogs in regulation Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi (or something like that) had a 5 hotdog eatoff to determine a winner.

As you can see, even Maisie could help but get caught up in the excitement.

After going home for naps, we ventured out to see the "biggest firework show in the nation". We arrived at around 6 and things were already starting to get pretty full. We had some friends who had gone down to stake out a place at about 3 and were sitting in an area that had been cordoned off by the police by the time we got there. After a little begging, the police allowed us to cross the line to sit with them. The seats were incredible, we were right on the water's edge with the fireworks direction in front of us. Here are some pics:

This is the view of the NY skyline looking back toward the city. The tall building is the Empire State Building, sporting its festive Red, White and Blue lights.

When the fireworks started, Maisie was on Ryan's lap, she got nervous and moved onto my lap, then got nervous again and moved onto the lap of our friend, Selena. She finally felt comfortable, so she settled in and watched the rest of the show with her.


Getting home from fireworks was a nightmare, but it was by far worth the trip. We loved experiencing the 4th in the big city, but I don't think we'll do it again any time soon.

4 comments:

Janelle said...

I miss going to Fort Vancouver for the 4th. I did that for a couple years in a row -- SOOOOO much fun. We had a BBQ with my parents and Clayton, then went to a hometown fireworks show that was really awesome. It was so good that it made me not miss Ft. Vancouver (especially since it didn't rain). The only thing that could have made it better was if it were set to music.

Bingham Family said...

I am so excited that you went to the hotdog contest. I love to watch it on the 4th. I even said to Dusty "I hope they went" and you did!!! What a fun day! We miss you guys and can't believe it is almost time for you to come home!

Heidi and Matt said...

Wow!!! How incredible that you get to have those fun experiences! I cannot even believe how crowded that beach is. MY GOODNESS! The fireworks look amazing too. Everything looks like such a blast!

Jamie said...

You guys are seriously CRAZY, yet so adventurous too. Way to take full advantage of living out here. You are braver than we are!