Rose Parade - 2012

A little background first.  Both Fran and I grew up in Southern California and lived in the area for about 30 years.  In all that time Fran, a lover of parades, had never been to the Rose parade.  I went once when in college and did the campout thing, which means you arrive in the early afternoon of the day before and camp out along the parade route to save your space.  It was fun, but you are so close to the floats that it is hard to see the entire thing. 

Since we had decided to spend Christmas in Southern California this year I thought it would be nice to go to the Rose parade so Fran could check that off of her “list”.  I did not really want to commit to spending upwards of 24 hours at the parade so I checked into getting tickets and learned that there are stands along the entire route where you can buy a reserved seat, plus you can buy parking in advance.  This seemed like the best way to go so we got a good view and did not miss out by searching for parking or a space to sit. 

We got the tickets and the seats were within the first mile of the parade.  Our parking was a few blocks away and very near the freeway. The information packet said the parking lot opens at 3:00am and they would like you in your seats at 6:00am.  Where we are staying is about 1 hour away from Pasadena when there is no traffic.  No knowing what to expect we decided to leave at 2:30am.  We made it to the parking garage at 3:30am and quickly saw that it was not very busy in the area of the parade at all.  We probably could have left an hour or two later, however the traffic on the highway most likely would have been heavier.  We walked Colorado Avenue (parade route) seeing all the people sleeping on the street and sidewalk.  They really do get elaborate in all the stuff they bring with them, portable heaters, fire pits, chairs and blow up mattresses.  One thing we did notice is the limited amount of portable restrooms.  We were both surprised that there were not more for the number of people that show up.  Fortunately we found out that are seats gave us access to a mall restroom facility with no line.

Here is us in our seat just before dawn.

Great seats as we were near the top.

It was fun to watch the people in the hours leading up to the parade.  They let anyone walk, run, bike the parade route until the parade starts so you get an interesting display of people either just jogging, or riding their bike.  But you all get those that are strange or wanting to give their “message”.

This was the line for the restrooms across from us. These people, around 100, were in line for 6 portable restrooms.  Within an hour this line was three times this size.

Upside to working the parade is you get to see it, downside is you have to wear a white suit.

And the parade begins

Grand Marshal J.R. Martinez waved to us and wished us a Happy New Year!

The “pooper scoopers” got the biggest applause

We had a great time and the weather was nice.  It was a little slow to get the car on the highway but once we did it was smooth sailing back to the RV park.