Monday, December 1, 2008

Macy's Parade and the Car Ride from Hell

What is UP with the Macy's Parade now? I remember when I was a kid, we LOVED to watch it. It had all the fun balloons and the bands and all that. Now? The TV coverage is all about the "hosts." I have nothing against Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer, but I don't really tune in to see them being goofy and spewing out 100% uselss commentary. Get back to the balloons, damnit! And then there's the "guests", like the Macy's Parade is a talk show. CLAY AIKEN? Are you kidding me? Didn't his 15 minutes of fame run out, oh, I don't know - 5 years ago? And when did Darius Rucker go Country? Where are the Blowfish? Then there were the Marching Businessmen - a group of guys dressed in suits and ties, formed to advertise some menswear shop that has been closed for 9 years. All they did was steal from "Stripes" - boom chacalacalaca, boom chacalacalaca... It was all very disappointing.

Then there was the ride home yesterday. God bless my wonderful children - they were practically saints. The ride from Pensacola to Tampa is usually 7 1/2 hours - 8 if you stop and go in someplace to sit down for a meal. Yesterday, it took us 11 1/2 hours. That's pretty much the whole day in the car. And it was pouring the whole way, meaning the kids couldn't even get out and run at the rest areas. Every McDonalds seemed to have outdoor play areas, not indoor ones. We left Pensacola at just after 8:00 am CST, and arrived in Tampa just before 9:00 pm EST. It was miserable. The kids were real troopers, though. Their brains may have turned to oatmeal due to all of the movies they watched, but what can ya do?

Note to self: when you go back and read this entry next year, DO NOT DRIVE HOME ON THE SUNDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING.

Let the Christmas chaos begin!

1 comment:

amy said...

I can't believe you had to do the drive in yesterday's weather! Suck.