mummers the word

You may know that every year my friend Myron and I meet up somewhere for New Year's. It started ten years ago with a trip to Vegas along with our friend Tres. While there, we saw Anderson Cooper in Key West where they drop a drag queen in a giant pump at Midnight. Immediately we knew where we would be the next year. We went to Key West for a few years, and then did New Orleans the last two years. A little backstory: I've always hated New Years because its such a peer pressure holiday (you have to be out doing something) and even moreso, the big countdown to... well, nothing. It always feels like such a let-down. So I like to be somewhere that something actually happens at Midnight - a drop of some kind, or fireworks, etc. My other requirement was for somewhere fairly temperate. This year we couldn't come up with anywhere, so I dropped the temperate requirement. We thought of fantastical places like London or Paris or Sydney, but there was no way to afford that. Eventually, Boston and Philly ended up being our main contenders. I put that out on Twitter and Facebook, and the reviews from Boston weren't favorable, so we leaned to Philly and then discovered that the Mummers Parade is New Years Day. Not only that, but the parade goes most of the day, so it isn't even some early morning parade (you know how I love mornings.) So long story short - we're going to Philly. We don't know much about what to expect, so if you've been and have tips, please pass em on. We always especially like finding out locals-type places, mom-and-pops, dives, etc more than the typical tourist sights. Either way, if you follow along on here, you'll be along for the ride.