Rose Bowl Parade, 2012

Yesterday was our second visit to the Rose Bowl Parade. Two years ago we purchased bleacher seats and a parking pass beforehand. This year we decided to join the masses and take a metro train to Pasadena. Unfortunately our timing was a bit off. Even though we started our trip at about 6AM, we still got into the main crush of people when we arrived at the parade site a little before 8AM. Consequently our viewing area was several rows back from the curb, and it was standing room only! However, we did see all of the parade and even got in a few good pictures. The float pictured below belonged to Trader Joe's. It was a fanciful wagon used to convey the parade's "Just Imagine..." theme. A fishing pole moved up and down, tennis rackets waved back and forth. The puff of smoke in the back of the wagon came from ketchup bottles which boomed and emitted smoke. Roses, mum and gladiolas decorated the lower parts of the wagon.

The second float I have pictured here was done by the Shriners Hospitals for Children. The plane on that float goes up and down. The theme is "Soaring for Kids"

The last one I want to show here has the theme of organ donation, "...One More Day". Faces of people who have donated their organs are on the clock's face.

 Our son Mike picked us up in Pasadena after the parade and we went out to lunch with him. When we arrived back at the metro station John and I acknowledged to each other that we were not ready to go home. It was sunny day and the perfect place to go would be the beach. We gathered up our suntan lotion, beach blanket and took the metro to Long Beach. That was an hour long trip, but we needed some time to just sit. Once we got to the  beach we laid out on our blanket. While John slept I watched shore birds pecking in the sand along the shore line. Even a pelican entertained me while he made several dives into the water for fish. While I was watching he managed to snag one. We left the beach when the sun started setting.