Best Fourth of July EVER!

What do you think of when you hear "The Fourth of July"? I have always thought of parades and fireworks. But all of that has changed after the day that I had today. My Fourth of July started out early with a trip to Coney Island. Some of you may have heard about Nathan's Famous Hotdog Eating Contest. Honestly, before today I hadn't. But apparently it is super famous and world champion eaters come from all over to compete in the contest. ESPN even broadcasts the competition, so if you're curious about what went down check it out at espn.com. The winner, Joey Chestnut, beat out Kobayashi in overtime after they had both eaten 59 hotdogs in 10 minutes. Chestnut won by being the first to successfully eat 5 more hotdogs during the tiebreaker. 

But watching the hotdog eating contest was not the only thing to do at Coney Island on the Fourth of July. After eating at Nathan's Famous Hotdogs 

(of course we had to participate in the hotdog eating too) we walked along the boardwalk for a bit, and then decided to risk our lives riding The Cyclone. If there was anything other than the hotdogs that Coney Island is famous for it's The Cyclone. The Cyclone is the oldest roller coaster in the United States (maybe in the world...I don't really know). This thing was built in 1927 and it is still running. For those of you who have been to Lagoon and ridden the white roller coaster...if you thought that was rickety you haven't seen anything until you've ridden The Cyclone. Ricketiest roller coaster I've ever been on. There was a point where I thought I was going to fly 

right out of the cart (yes, I did lift off my seat on multiple occasions) but luckily I made it through with only one minor injury. For some reason both Sara and I ended up banging our elbows and getting bruised. But man, that was one fun and crazy ride!! It was a very hot and humid day today, so after spending a

few hours crowded together with many other sweaty people on Coney Island, I was grateful to get back on the nice air conditioned subway and head back to Manhattan. It was quite a long ride, and we were all pretty exhausted, so a few of us decided to take a short nap.

After getting cleaned up (a nice cold shower has never felt 

so good) I was getting all set to go watch some fireworks...until I looked out the window and it was POURING rain!! So my friends and I changed our plans. Instead of joining the other New Yorkers along FDR/East River, we went to Stacy's house to catch a glimpse of the multiple firework displays. This way we were able to see the fireworks while keeping dry.

However, we also had other plans for the night for which we had to leave a bit early so I only got to see a few fireworks. But I would give up watching fireworks any day to go to the show we went to. Abby's co-worker at the Apple store is in this production called Fuerza Bruta and he was able to get us free tickets 

for tonight's show. Oh my goodness!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! Seriously...you HAVE to check out the website. (click on the name above) It doesn't even come close to showing how cool this thing was, but it will give you some idea of my crazy night. What it is, is an interactive, weird artsy show with a little Cirque de Sole/Blue Man Group vibe. There were things going on all around us. And when I saw all around us I mean ALL around us (in front, behind, and even above - on walls and ceiling). It's standing room only due to the fact that you are constantly having to move because the performers and "stages" keep moving and coming out from different places. One of the coolest parts was when the performers were swimming above us on this clear plastic tarp thing. For anyone who watched America's Next Top Model you will know what I'm talking about because they did a photo shoot using this same thing. Anyway...as they were "swimming," it was lowered down from the ceiling far enough that I was touching it. I got very close up and personal with men in boxers as they were swimming over my head. There were also many times when the performers would run through walls of boxes filled with confetti which was pretty dang awesome! Anyway...as you can tell I could go on and on about this show because it was seriously one of the coolest things I've done in NY so far. But there is one more part that I need to share with you about Fuerza Bruta. Throughout the show there were multiple parts where the DJ (dressed up in a Mozart wig) would just play music for everyone to dance to and would spray the audience with water. It was great. But that's just the beginning to how crazy it got. After the performers took their final bow, it was time for the real party to begin. The DJ came back and started spraying water and then it started raining from the ceiling. And I don't mean a nice little trickle. I mean a freaking huge rain storm inside the building. Let's just say I was SOAKED!!! And there was tons of confetti everywhere from the show, so not only were we

wet, we were covered in confetti. (I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of us right after the show, but the only picture I have of the craziness is my feet covered in confetti.) Oh my gosh! Seriously...I can't get over how freaking awesome this show was. If you ever come to NY you HAVE to go see Fuerza Bruta. Just make sure you check all your belongings at the coat check and wear comfy clothes and shoes that you don't mind getting wet.

Anyway...now can you see why I would say that I had the best 4th of July ever?!?! It is definitely one to go down in the history books (at least my history books). And if you're thinking that it doesn't seem like the most patriotic thing to do on the 4th of July, you might be right; but they did play Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner at the show (Camille I thought of you and how you told me your dad would wake you up by blasting this song) and I did watch the annual 4th of July hotdog eating contest...so I would say I got my patriotism in. God Bless the USA!!!