at 5:45 a.m. we grabbed blankets and chairs and walked two blocks to colorado blvd...we found some great spots just four rows back from the street, which was amazing because people were HARD CORE out there. many had been camped out since noon on new year's eve, with blankets and couches and card tables and bbqs and tents.
by the time we showed up they had been there for a long sleep-deprived while and were NOT giving up space. b took a nap as soon as we sat down (he is such a good sport), but i was too pumped to sit.
street vendors were selling all sorts of things at 6 a.m. -- cotton candy, donuts, bacon-wrapped hot dogs. a few years ago, i actually bought and ate one of these babies at 7 a.m. to watch the parade. sanitary? probably not. weird things start to happen to your brain when you get sleep deprived!
i LOVE parades. not quite sure why. might have something to do with the fact that i marched in rancho's founder's day parade and the disneyland parades a few times with the high school band; it was so much fun to have people cheering and little kids waving and your adrenaline pumping as you did your thang down the street. parades are just happy.
and it was so fun to have all this happening right in my neighborhood this year! we heard helicopters and the good year blimp flying all night and morning, watched the drama of the campers every day this week when we went to the gym or drove to target. i drive / walk this street almost every day and it was so cool to have it look like THIS for a change:
doris & hannah joined us just before it started, and we were ready to go. btw, i hope that someday i'll be game to walk to a parade when i'm 8 months pregnant...doris is amazing.
spectators ready to go! this is what brandon and i will look like in the future (if we adopt, that is):
finally it was time to begin! we had awesome spots because everyone in front of us sat down, but we stood up with everyone in back of us. an unfiltered view for all :)
honda's asimo robot got everything started. almost as cool as the toyota trumpet-playing robot...hey, why weren't THEY in the parade??
this was one of my favorite floats. (it was also our first elephant sighting of the parade -- we counted three elephants all together. also, between the floats and the bands, we heard the quintessential crowdpleaser "celebrate" a total of three times as well. time for some new material, folks.)
celeb count: 1 (jack hanna rode this one.)
i recognize this chick in the middle from the women's world cup soccer team...but i don't know her name. julie something? whatever...celeb count: 2.
celeb count: 3 -- cynthia nixon from s&tc, riding a purse float. of course she turned her head right when i got my camera out:
then it was usc time! we were so excited for the cheerleaders and band to come by. b and i wore our usc shirts and the band cheered and yelled and gave us the victory V when they saw us. too bad we're not actually alumni...but i feel related anyway.
i am seriously in love with the marching trojans. they are so cool.
celeb count: 4. cloris leachman, dancing w/ the stars extraordinaire and this year's grand marshall. once again, for some reason everyone likes to wave at the other side of the street when they get in front of my camera. take my word for it.
more elephants. more bands. bands from mexico with weird helmets.
(which, being the band nerd that i am, were obviously deterrants to the band's peripheral vision b/c their marching lines were SO off. boo.)
this is christy lewis, a lady from my ward at church. she was in one of the equestrian units and we were so excited to spot her:
and then the parade was over! we followed the mass of humanity down the street and watched all the people get in their cars and stop in traffic. we turned the corner and walked into our apartment complex. such a lovely location we live in :)
6 comments:
Excellent recap yourself! LOVE the celebrity count. We had the parade on after we got home and I noticed that Greg Louganis was on that swimming float as well. I didn't see him when they went by though.
There was one more too, but I can't remember now...
Anyway, so fun to go with you guys! I'd say let's do it again next year, but who knows where you guys will be... *sniff sniff*
LOVE the pic with Hannah--adorable!
Sounds like it all worked out perfect for you guys. Great pictures! I got a good shot of Cloris Leachman you can steal, if you want :).
My fav is the cute picture of you and Brandon, just having arrived at the parade. He's immediately out and you're all bright-eyed and adorable in your USC shirt. Really cute.
Um, did you really eat one of those hot dogs? Ew. They remind me of the downtown Garment District.
Hey fun time you guys! The last and only time I went was when I went with some friends for an institute party it was fun and yes you do crazy things when sleep deprived. Thanks for all the fun pic of the parade I actually didn't watch any of it this year that is a first:)
Wow, that looks like a bunch of fun. I've never really been to a parade...I think my biggest one is freedom festival parade in provo :)
Go USC!
1) I went and camped out one night... Sleeping was hard to do (we left at 5:00pm the night before) and tried to get some sleep on the hard concrete with all freezing cold, the noise and people... Oh, and at midnight, just as I was about to sleep - a flour tortilla landed on my face. Someone threw it in celebration... Also - only port-a-potties. Ew. I don't think I went to the bathroom for 24 hours.
2) I spent the night at a friend's place in LA this year, and Kristen and I were looking for some coffee (not in downtown la on a holiday! everything's closed) -- so we hopped on the 110 and took it to Pasadena. Seemed fine until I had to make a left. Then, I tried to get on the 210 from Lake and that was a NIGHTMARE. I had to pass Colorado and it hit me THEN that I was in the dumbest place on earth. It took me 45 minutes to get out of Pasadena. Normally I love it, but I hate the parades!!!!! (I hated marching band with such a passion...) :)
i did the all night thing twice in high school and subsequently feel asleep twice during the parade. good times.
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