Post Rose Parade Viewing

Being in the Pasadena area during the Rose Parade time period leads one to think of attending such an extraordinary event you have seen on TV all of your life. But we came to our senses quickly thinking NO WAY would we dare venture into the jumbled mess that we knew would be there.

Fortunately for us new friends in the church informed us that every year you can still see the floats for two days after the official parade at a designated spot. Well we decided that we could do that. That's when we decided to buy something we had thought about ever since we arrived - a GPS - and we haven't regretted it since. (Discussed another time)

So right after Steve's treatment on Friday January 2 we headed out and drove to the parking lot where we caught a bus to take us to the viewing site. They have 3 different sites to park and catch buses which makes it easy from whichever direction you are coming. The buses leave every 15 minutes to and from the float site so you can leave any time you want.

It was a foggy day and little cool but very tolerable. We brought coats, water and snacks. We walked and walked and walked and took about 100 pictures, everything was just so-o-o-o-o beautiful.

WOW! I have to say that not only were we taken back by the beauty of the floats we saw but by the thousands of people in attendance. They usually expect about 150,000 people over the viewing period and I have to say it sure felt like it when we were there.

As we entered the float viewing area we picked up a brochure to help learn the Post Parade layout. We had no idea what we were getting into but we are so glad that we braved the crowd. We saw all 47 floats and walked 2.5 miles to do it. Seating is very limited and I don't think we sat down once.