Chicago - Thanksgiving Day

Tonight, I wanted to share with you all pictures that I took on a recent trip to Chicago over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  My friends and I went to Chicago to work in the McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We were responsible for blowing up the floats and walking alongside the people holding the balloons to make sure the balloons did not hit power lines, streetlights, trees, or in the case of Chicago the L-Train.

For sometime, we all were looking forward to this trip with all the anticipated chicanery and foolishness.  Let's just say that this trip exceeded our expectations even though we were only in Chicago for 24 hours.  We arrived to Chicago at about 4pm after flight delays due to the dense fog in Chicago.  After the hour trip from the airport to the hotel (because of rush hour traffic), we dropped off our things and went to Giordano's for some famous Chicago Style Deep Dish pizza.  A trip to Chicago is not complete without having a slice of heaven.  We then walked down the Magnificent Mile to hit up the Nike Store before it closed.  At about 11pm, we all had a decision to make.  Do we stay up for the 3AM start time to blow the balloons or do we take what would become a power nap.  We decided to the latter as the 3AM inflation time meant waking up at 2AM and walking a city mile to get the site.  So, 2AM, 2:30AM, and 3AM come around and it is now about 40 degrees.  When we get to the inflation site, we begin to work on moving bags of sand, laying out the balloons, and preparing to blow the balloons.  After a few hours and several attempts to get the helium from the helium truck, we blew the balloons up while also sharing many great laughs.  By sunrise, the volunteers were at the site ready to carry the floats in the parade.  I was responsible for Odie (the dog featured in the Garfield comics).  Lucky for me, I had a group of people that was very experienced with handling the floats in this parade, but we still had to plan for getting the balloons underneath the L-train.

It was an amazing life experience to be in the McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Walking down State Street with more than a million people to the left and right of you was a great feeling.  I compare to playing in a big game with your rival in sports and seeing not a vacant seat in the stands.  I honestly could not stop smiling the entire time because it truly was an once-in-a-lifetime moment.  Sometimes, I would forget that I was "working" in the parade because I was so wrapped up in the moment.  The wind brought me back to reality very fast as we had to avoid the trees and stoplights at the beginning of the parade route.  We did make it underneath the L-Train (thanks to an experience bunch carrying the float).  As we were walking down the parade route, we would see the network people and you would see different signs that some of them were holding.  When I saw the sign that said, "Smile, You're On TV," I realized that we were walking in a parade that was viewed by an entire nation.  WOW...I was on TV :).  

The parade was over around 11.30AM.  Our flight left from Chicago at 3.  From this trip, I have memories of many of great laughs, quotes, and moments.  I am glad that my friends invited me to go along on the trip.  It was hard missing Thanksgiving with my family, as it was one of the first times I missed Thanksgiving with them ever, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to go on this trip.  Below are some of the pictures that I took while on my trip.  Please enjoy.