I Love a Parade!

Once again, Happy 2010!

I have a rather long history with the famous New Year's Day tradition that is the Tournament of Roses Parade. From my youth, I've cherished memories of spending the night at grandma's with my cousins (while our parents partied!) and waking up to a delicious breakfast of sausage, eggs, Hawaiian bread French Toast, orange juice, and the Rose Parade on T.V! I was enamored of the floats as a child, and that love expanded as I grew and was able to get involved in concepts and designs for floats in the 1995, 2001, and 2003 parades, as well as decorating those years. These days, I've been too busy to do much with floats, but I still enjoy going to the parade when I get the chance. When a friend texted me that she & her husband had a great viewing spot if I'd like to go with them today, I jumped at the chance, grabbed my camera, and thought I'd share the experience with y'all!

One fun float I thought I'd share is Phoenix Satellite Television's "Dance of the Terracotta Warriors" representing the Qin Dynasty Terracotta Army, unearthed in Xi’an, China in 1974. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph clay horses depicted on a Rose Parade float!


The Rose Bowl itself made it into the parade this year, with Bayer Advanced's entry, "We Are The Champions." I thought it was one of the prettiest entries in the parade, and I loved the vintage posters depicted on the sides of the bowl. I do believe it won a trophy!

Now beside the floats, the equestrian entries have always been an exciting part of the Rose Parade for me. Below are some of the spiffy horses & riders (or drivers!) I caught glimpses of today:

So many pretty colors in this group! A rose gray, a sooty palomino, and I think, an Ivory Champagne? (Lesli?)

Look at his soft flaxen-chestnut self! Love the lederhosen, too!

Massive amounts of Minis rolling down Colorado Blvd!

These mules were just too great.

Well folks, there you have it! Hope you enjoyed this very abbreviated glimpse of the parade. I sincerely wish you all well this year. Here's to a fresh new year & decade for us all!

:)