Best Fourth of July Weekend of the Year

Fourth of July weekend! I've been working sort of a lot lately, so I was really glad to have the three day weekend. I kicked off the 4th by going with Lyndi to see a hot dog eating contest. Not the one in Coney Island! But an alternate one they hold every year in Midtown where Takeru Kobayashi competes now that he's been "banned" from the Nathan's contest.

This year it was a bunless competition. Kobayashi ate 113 in 10 minutes. It's a perverse thing to watch someone eat so much for such a long time. Most of his "competition" wasn't even close, but the guy at the end ate 80 or 90 himself.

Our victor.

Now here's a fun competition: Who do you think was dressed the most patriotically this Independence Day?

       

(Imagine this is coming out of a word balloon because in this picture it looks like I'm talking): "Now, in case you're about to say Lyndi, don't forget to consider . . ."

My socks!

After the hot dog show we went to the Ace Hotel for lunch.



Where I had the lobby-only Breslin Bacon Cheeseburger. This is a terrible picture of it.

Here's a better picture off of the internet. I'll call the Ace Lobby Burger one of the great unknown burgers of the city. It's made with the same beef as the Spotted Pig burger, the cheese and bacon on it pack nearly the same salty punch as the fist full of blue cheese you get with the Spotted Pig burger, and it comes wiht the same great fries as the Breslin lamb burger. You can't get this burger inside the Breslin, just in the hotel lobby, just like you can't get the Breslin lamb burger in the lobby. Just in the restaurant.

That night I met up with a mess of people to go watch the fireworks from Brooklyn. Here is Alex with the pizzas.



I brought chips!

All these photos courtesy of Allison's phone. But which Allison? I'll never tell!!

We watched the fireworks from under the Brooklyn Bridge. Why don't I have any pictures of the fireworks? Because I could not see them. I was under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Saturday I did laundry, saw How to Train Your Dragon 2 (not as dynamite as reviews had suggested), and went to X'ian Famous Foods with Patricia. And basically did not take pictures.

Sunday evening there was a picnic in the park. You may have seen these pictures on Facebook. Now they are on my blog! I have included some bonus photos to make your visit worth it.

Picnic blanket folding is hard.

And that was my nice three day weekend! Now I'm back to just going to work and coming home from work.