Sometimes the best destinations are the unexpected ones, and New Year’s Eve is no exception. Yes, you could go to Times Square, or the favorite spot where you have gone for many years. But if you are looking for a new twist to bring in the New Year, here are some suggestions.
Quoddy Head, ME
Do you want to bring in the New Year a bit ahead of everyone else? Technically speaking, you can do that by going to the eastern most point of land in the USA to do that. Your destination would be Quoddy Head, Maine, the easternmost point in the USA. Visit West Quoddy Lighthouse in Lubec, Maine, which as you’d guess is the most eastern lighthouse in the U.S. it is worth the drive if you are a lighthouse fan. Stay at Peacock House, Eastland Motel or the Home Port B and B. Dine at Cohill’s Pub or Water Street Tavern, and get some treats at Monica’s Chocolate.
St. Augustine, FL
Would you like to welcome in the New Year in the place where people have been welcoming in the New Year longer than anywhere else in the nation? Then head to America’s oldest city, St. Augustine Florida. New Year’s is a spectacular event in St. Augustine, with its park and river areas turned into a marvel of wonder, with millions of tiny white lights.
You can enjoy a meal over the water at the Old City House Inn and Restaurant or the Columbia, an always wonderful Florida specialty worth visiting here or in any of its other stylish locations around the state. Take an after-dark carriage ride, so you can surround yourself in all this beauty.
Towering Restaurants
Want to celebrate above the crowd? The highest skyscraper-top restaurant in the USA is located on the mezzanine level of One World Trade Center in Manhattan, at a height of 1,250 feet above street level. Talk about dizzying heights.
Other tip-top restaurants that you might want to try are The Signature Room atop the John Hancock Tower in Chicago, the Stratosphere Hotel and Tower’s Top of the World Restaurant, at 844 feet, which revolves 360 degrees every 80 minutes, or the ever-elegant Rainbow Room, in Manhattan, with its new color scheme in shades of grey and crystal.
The highest restaurant in the USA is Alpino Vino, at an elevation of 11,966 feet in Telluride Colorado. You take a ski lift to reach it, then ride a snow coach to reach the front door.
Key West, FL
If you want to go as far as you can go before falling off into the ocean then Key West is your choice. Most of the revelers will tell you that the place to greet the new year is along Duvall Street, with its wild and wacky festiveness.
Rumor has it that the best New Years party in Key West is actually the Southernmost Beach Resort, which is very private and glamourous, away from the madding crowd. Tone up the allure and enjoy the sophisticated seclusion as the new year rings in.
Chicago, IL
The Chicago Riverwalk will be home to a brand new outdoor, public celebration called “Chi-Town Rising.” Eventers can ring in the New Year with a major fireworks show, music headliners and of course, a countdown. Chi-Town Rising will be held along the Chicago River between Michigan Ave and Columbus Drive, the “older” portions of the Riverwalk. The midnight countdown will also feature a giant Chicago star rising into the night sky.
Mercersburg, PA
Whitetail Mountain Resort in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, offers an annual New Year’s Eve celebration. This year’s event will feature discounted lift tickets 5pm-1am and 9pm-1am. The event includes a full buffet dinner, live musical entertainment from the band “Retrospect”, a bonfire in the “Mixing Bowl”, fireworks and a ball drop at midnight, as will as snowboarding and skiing until 1 am. Mercersburg is conveniently close to many northeastern cities.
Cape Alava, WA
Do want to make the old year last as long as you are able? Then you might want to try the westernmost point in the continental USA for your celebration. That is Washington State’s Cape Alava. Book a room at the Lake Quinault Lodge, with its warm, wood lined lobby, roaring fireplace and floor to ceiling windows looking out on the waterside views; it is just the place to ease into the New Year.
