Maybe you've heard of the Rose Parade, but have you heard about it from the eyes of a [crazy, inane, hedonistic] person who camped on the route?
The parade happens New Year's day but it really begins on New Years Eve in the morning. For the Klotzle group it began at 7:30 when my aunt and her two daughters found some unreserved grass and sidewalk on Colorado between Harkness and Marion Avenues. Same place we set up camp two years ago. They got out the duct tape to mark our territory because as silly as it sounds, it's quite necessary.
A few hours later Kim and I showed up on the scene (after taking the darling Calvin and his parents to the airport) to help defend our position. Yes, it takes some D. People take this whole Rose Parade scene very seriously, including the cops. For instance, until noon no belongings like chairs, tables, sleeping bags, tarps, and the likes are allowed on the grass...and neither are sitting humans. I know that from experience. You see, to pass the time away we decided to sit in the sun on the grass and play some hearts. That should not be a big deal, right? I thought not, but the policeman did because as we're sitting there, very civilly, not causing any problems, he drives by and through his window tells us to not sit on the lawn. So you mean we can stand there but it's not okay to bend our legs there? We weren't sitting in chairs! We were sitting Indian style! He didn't care. No sitting. So, we stood around waiting til noon rolled around and then we put chairs on the grass and we even sat in 'em!
Not too much later, this van pulls up and the driver is looking at our spot. We waved her on in an effort to show that the grass and sidewalk were taken and no, she couldn't put her stuff there. This woman has some guts because after sweet Hannah explained that she wasn't welcome there she decided that welcome or not, she was camping in our territory. And now I introduce you to Mr. Hot Chocolate. About the name...I don't know his real name and he makes some killer hot chocolate.
The people who set up camp by us the last time are kind Christian people who have been more than helpful and just really great to share the sidewalk with. Although I was happy to see we would be neighbors again this year, until this little episode I didn't realize exactly how wonderful it was to have Mr. Hot Chocolate nearby.
Anyway, after a minute or two of trying to reason with the encroacher, Hannah called Mr. H.C. over because this woman was not intimidated by four girls. She argued that we had plenty of space for 20 people and she was just going to use a small square of space because she only had six in her group. (It was her and five kiddos.) I'll admit, we had a big area, but us girls were told to hold it for our group and it wasn't our right to give it up. So, Hannah explains to her that we have four people we must save front row seats for (cause they gave us $40 dollars and a promise to bring doughnuts in the morning!) and she replies that she'll take second row seats and accuses us of making it such a big deal. At first, Mr. H.C. seemed to be giving in to her case, but then she opened her van door to start unloading and when we saw the fuzzy neon pillows and blankets ready to fall out the side, it was clear that she was not going to be our neighbor. When Hannah told her she could not unload the angry woman threatened to call the cops.
She got back in her car and got on the phone while Mr. H.C. assured Hannah that the cops wouldn't do anything about it. Pretty soon she hollered through the window that we were making this all such a big deal and in the morning she would come see if we were using all our space. Then she drove away and we thanked Mr. H.C. for coming to our rescue.
The whole situation kind of upset me because I knew that we really did have lots of space and who are we to claim we own a little patch of grass. Really the whole situation is kind of sad because it's adults disputing over the best place to sleep over night on the street in order to watch these big displays of rose petals float by. I mean, when you step back it's kind of silly. However, as Mr. H.C. pointed out, it's the principle that our group was there at 7:30 to claim our spot and anybody that would've gotten there sooner had free game. He also shared that one year they let another group have some of their space and pretty soon they were asking for more space that they had initially reserved for themselves because the other group was almost taking over. Unfortunately you don't know what all and who all is going to show up when you give a person some of your space so it's just best to get there early, mark your territory, and defend it! As much as I wish we hadn't upset the woman, things like that--and much worse--are bound to happen during the craziness of the Rose Parade.
Thankfully the rest of the afternoon went much smoother. Joseph arrived with more chairs to set up as well as some rope to define 'our' spot. The four of us who had been there for a while decided to use the $20 'down-payment' the lady gave Hannah to save her seats on Starbucks. We also walked to a nearby Chick-fil-A for some lunch...and on the way back we saw that the angry woman had found another place to camp. Phew!
To help entertain us, or to show off or keep those engines running well, people drive up and down Colorado Boulevard in their fancy cars all day (and night).
I thought this bakery on wheels was kinda cute :)
Some people get excited to see a Porsche drive by but I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: a VW minivan is my dream vehicle. They're cute in just about any color and look fantastic with a surfboard latched on top. What's not to like about them?
If you take another look at the photo above you'll see a blue line painted on the cement. That's another one of those rules of staying on the route. You can't move to the 'Honor Line' as it's called until 11 p.m. and after that there's no further to go.
Later on in the day Hannah and I had to leave because we excitedly agreed to help our cousin (Jordyn's mom) with a New Year's party so just a little bit before the next van load of campers arrived to the route we took off leaving just Kimberly and Rachel to guard the boundaries. They had no problems and it all went well (phew!). Meanwhile, Hannah and I drove out to Claremont to help with food prep. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and even got some cousin time in with Jenna, Anikah, and Jordyn. It was really nice to have a break from the whole parade route scene for a little while :)
Around 11 o'clock we got back to the route and the first thing we did was move our chairs out to the blue line! Ha, just kidding. What we really did was huddle around a propane tank with a heat lamp because it was so cold. Not cold as in Michigan cold as in there was a foot of snow. But cold as in 30's. That's not what I consider ideal sleeping conditions but we'll get to that later. Besides make us uncomfortable, another thing the cold did was chase away the crowd. Many years the route is packed and alive with horn blaring, tortilla throwing, cracker popping, and noise noise noise! This year there was a little of each but on a much smaller scale and in a strange sense it took away from the excitement of staying on the route. But then I guess there was the guy across the street who happily blasted rock music all night so we still got the effect.
This kid makes me smile! He stayed up all night reading by the space heater and finally at six in the morning decided he couldn't take it any longer so he crashed for a few hours before the parade started. I 'slept' or more accurately 'napped' in a camp chair near the heater to stay warm and since it was across from him I'd see him still sitting there reading his book, a thin blanket across his lap, whenever I woke up...which was too often.
There were also those who braved the cold and curled up in a sleeping bag. At one point I had thought of joining but the sleeping bag I was going to use was still wet from when the sprinklers went off...oh, yah,they went off while Hannah and I were gone...and I wasn't even sure where I'd lie. Later I was informed by someone who tried both methods that sitting by the heater under blankets was warmer.
Two exciting things happened early in the morning. Mr. H.C. brought over some hot chocolate for the few who were awake and it was fantabulous. Also the cow from Chick-Fil-A was led by a worker to inform us that they were open and serving breakfast. Hannah asked what was on the menu and as the worker began listing sausage burritos and this other kind of meat that wasn't exactly chicken or pork the cow got a little upset. It gave us a good chuckle.
Pretty soon more people started waking up and Uncle Dave got started on his newsboy kick where he pretends to sell things in that loud voice that goes up at the end. "Come get your official Rose Parade Booklet hee--EER!" "Cof-FEE! Come get your official Rlose Parade coffee hee-EER!"
Some breakfast sandwiches arrived as well as the doughnuts we were promised and boy did it hit the spot! People also arrived by the dozens...er...the hundreds! The grandstand behind our area was packed full and there were many more grandstands along the route.
Peddlers walked up and down trying to sell cotton candy, horns, balloons, you name it!
Anything and everything drives, rolls, scoots, marches, and clip-clops down Colorado Boulevard!
To start off the parade a big bomber plane (that my lack of interest in planes causes me to forget it's official name) flies over the route and everybody oohs and ahhs. Then these men on cute white mopeds wearing white suits drive down the boulevard and do fun patterns and formations with their scooters. And then the parade floats begin appearing. Floats, bands, horses, and old cars are the most common entries. Whatever it is, as long as it's got lots and lots (and lots and lots) of flowers it fits in! Also, there's always a theme and this year it was "Inspiring Stories". And unfortunately the Grand Marshall, Louis Zamperini, had passed away after he was nominated for the position.
This float had trampolines and people doing flips as they rolled by.
A giant mechanical bird that moved it's neck.
Under the bunch of orange flowers there's a nice little waterfall...look close!
Oregon and Florida played in the Rose Bowl so their bands marched and the Ducks' cheerleaders stopped in front of us (well, probably the grandstands) to do their thing.
I kinda like this float. It may or may not have to do with the fact that Trader Joe's is my favorite grocery store. Ever. Period. And that may or may not be due to the fact that they sell cookie butter and lots of sinful indulgences with dark chocolate and the greatest yogurt ever and mini drumsticks and--
*Ahem*...back to the parade.
By the time this float rolled around though, Hannah and I were wondering if the parade was ever going to end which is ironic because after all we went through to watch it you'd think we'd want it to go on for another hour, at least! However, with only a few hours of sleep and the damper the cold put on the whole scene, it wasn't as exciting as other years I've gone and a shower was sounding really nice.
Don't let this deter you from staying on the route, though, if you're ever in the Pasadena area on New Years! Despite the fact that it's cold, people are people, you smell like a campfire in the middle of a locker room and feel even worse, there's silly string stuck to the bottom of your tennis shoe, and you did all of that to celebrate a New Year, it's a wonderful experience. It won't disappoint. Unless you have unrealistically high expectations. Alls I'm sayin' is I warned you!
Still, it's fun. I don't regret it. And I might add that pictures do the floats NO JUSTICE! In real life they are incredible works of art that a silly iPhone camera cannot capture.
I'll try to post soon about my adventures in Michigan thus far. But until then...
