New Year's Eve

For NYE this year, we drove down to Chicago. We had Fernando with us (our Brazilian visitor), and he really wanted to see Chicago at night. We parked up kind of near the Drake, and then walked down Michigan Ave. (There were lots of great opportunities for Fernando to take pictures.) It was a cold night, but not too bad, and it was fun to window shop as well as watch the couples heading off to different parties around the city.

About half way down Michigan Avenue, we stopped at Banderas for an awesome dinner. It was then a short walk to the river, the building that the Brazilian Embassy occupies, and Navy Pier (which is where we were hoping to be at midnight).

Wow - Navy Pier was PACKED!!! It was a sea of people, but also kind of neat with all of the energy and lights. After walking around for a bit, we decided to get in line for the ferris wheel. It was about 11PM, and we watched as the time ticked by... 15 minutes (line moved slowly) ... 30 minutes (still very slow) ... 45 minutes (about this time I was starting to worry that we'd be in line for midnight!)... and then FINALLY we got in to our gondola. It was now only a few minutes to midnight ... as a matter-a-fact, we ended up at the very tip-top of the ferris wheel at the stroke of midnight!!! Talk about an incredible experience!!!! The crowd was roaring beneath us as fireworks started going off over the lake. It was great!!!!

Here's a video that Fernando took from the ferris wheel at midnight. You should be able to hear Melissa and I in the background. Listen for the crowd as midnight approaches ... it's pretty cool to hear them get louder and louder.