This year, or what was left of it, New Year's Eve and Debbie's birthday (Yup, a New Year's Baby) were celebrated in Gatlinburg, TN. Since I'm rarely home for New Year's, Debbie, a tv exec for a Fox affiliate station in Virginia, got a complimentary log cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains equipped with rustic appeal: wide front porch and rocking chairs, wrought iron beds, cottage stoned fireplace and huge cottage stoned bathtubs... um, it may not have been all rustic, since there was a remote control gas fireplace, jacuzzi jet tubs, flat screen tv over said fireplace.... dishwasher in kitchen... and, um... oh yeah, bubbly hot tub on the back porch..... but I like to think that we were roughing it for the 3 days that we were there.... LoL. After a windy drive to the Great Smokies, we reached our destination and headed to Kroger's to load up our fridge with goodies for the next 3 days. My sister Pamela and funny bro n'law Terry were coming up on New Year's Day for a coupla days, so that they could get in some skiing and snowboarding on our little "staycation".... but I digress. Debbie and I then headed off to downtown Gatlinburg, where a street party of 40,000 revelers were blowing their party horns, wearing goofy 2009 glasses, 2009 tiaras, and waiting for the ball to drop at the Space Needle to ring in the New Year.
Traffic was crazy and everyone was hyped for the coming year!
Here 's the ball right before it dropped. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5....
4, 3, 2, 1.... Whoopeee! Happy New Yeaaaaar!!!!!
The 20 minute fireworks show was spectacular! And, the
grand finale brilliantly over the top.... literally. LoL.
The streets were maddening and traffic jams ensued, but
there were plenty of partiers.... to say the least.
Did I mention that it was 20 degrees out? Brrrrr.... LoL.
Happy Birthday to my BFF Debbie!
Cosmos and Birthday Cake may not have been readily available, but hot cocoa and a chocolate funnel cake were a great substitute.
