December 30, 2011

December 30, 2011

Yikes!  We got on the bus at 6:30! That’s a.m. Ugh! I think I had completely forgotten such an early hour existed.  Yes, retirement is great!

The bus took us into Pasadena to the Rose Palace, only to discover we were at the wrong location.  On the way to the correct place, we drove part of the parade route.  It was interesting to see all of the viewing stands set up and ready for the parade.  Interesting how there are sometimes benefits to getting lost.

The “correct” place was a different viewing area than we were at yesterday.  We walked around the various float building locations  on a catwalk.  It was interesting to see the difference in the two venues...yesterday’s and today’s.  Today we saw a much more organized place for workers to get the plants and flowers ready to attach to the floats.  

Yesterday, there were several hundred volunteers, including us, doing various jobs.  People were enjoying themselves and taking pride in their work.  Today’s situation was made up of paid staff.  That feeling of accomplishment was absent today.   I’m glad we were able to see both types of operations.

We were across from the Rose Bowl, but not close enough to see it “up close and personal.”

Our last stop for the day was at the LA Equestrian Center where we saw performances by the various equestrian groups that will ride in the parade.

It was a busy and interesting day.  We were very tired when we got back to the motorehome late in the afternoon.  We gave new meaning to “plumb tuckered .”