Thread: Tournament of Roses-2007--Roses, Floats and Storm Troopers!-Trip Report

Roses-Floats and Storm Troopers

Frankly I'm not a parade person, trust me I can find far better forms of entertainment than watching cartoon characters waving atop a float, or listening to marching bands "unique" renditions of Broadway classics. But this year I had the opportunity to get a behind-the scenes look at the Rose Parade and guess what... parades can be a whole lot of fun.

The 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade- Theme-"Our Good Nature"- Grand Marshall-George Lucas.
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Dec. 31-5 a.m. rollout

I met Doug and his family at their hotel and picked up my credentials so I could accompany his group (FTD) on a behind the scenes viewing of some of the major floats entered in the Rose Parade. I have to admit I didn't relish getting up at the "crack of dawn", but the chance to get an up-close view of the floats without the accompanying 'thump, thump, rat-a-tat-tat' of a marching band, was just too good a deal to pass up... besides lunch was included.
Right off I have to say TV does not do the Rose Parade floats justice. The floats are just spectacular and the aroma... heavenly.
The FTD entry, "Jewels of Nature" was just gorgeous, it depicted, butterflies, hummingbirds and caterpillars in a garden that showcased a spectacular array of spring flowers and roses (45,000 by count). It was just beautiful and in fact won the Sweepstakes Trophy for outstanding floral presentation and design.
(artist rendtion---I still haven't figured out 'panoramic-stitch assist mode' on my camera)
Another of my favorites was the Rain Bird International "Natural Beauties" float. This float depicted reptiles playing at a waterfall (make that three waterfalls) really beautiful.
One float that caused quite a stir was "Oklahoma Rising". The state of Oklahoma is celebrating their centennial this year and their float featured a revolving birthday cake with a huge pop-up surprise. Luckily we were warned to stand back and cover our ears, trust me, when "RocketMan" fired up that propulsion pack, they heard it in Tulsa.
After lunch, there was a tour of the Wrigley Mansion (official home of the Tornament of Roses) and a chance to watch the decorating of the official Rose Parade vehicles and talk to the designers. Believe me, if your idea of parade car decoration is a floral blanket, you haven't see the Rose Parade vehicles.
The itinerary left the remainder of the afternoon free for relaxing. Interesting how the word "relaxing" has such a wide variety of meanings. Suffice to say, walking down the beach to the Michigan pep rally was not idea. Just imagine... a marching band, cheerleaders, football players and crazed fans all running around yelling "GO BLUE", believe me, I barely survived.
Side note--The Rose Bowl game was between the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California

New Year's Eve
I tired to stay up, I do remember watching the ball drop in New York and fighting to stay awake... at least I remembered to set the alarm.

New Year's Day 4 a.m. rollout Surprise development I decide to go to the parade.

The FTD group had reserved grand stand seats for the parade, but someone (I cannot name names upon penalty of death) just HAD to be right down front. Why... because this year's Rose Parade featured a "Star Wars" tribute, complete with floats, Darth Vader and 200 marching storm troopers, and WE just had to be curbside for that.

The parade started at 8 a.m. sharp with a flyover of a B-2 bomber accompanied by two F-22A Raptors and trust me, no one slept through that.
The parade was fantastic and believe it or not, marching bands aren't all that bad.
After the parade was the Rose Bowl game. I didn't attend, I gave my ticket to a relative (with a "strong rooting interest") who when I handled over the ticket, gratefully proclaimed "I owe you big time!" (I just love doing good deeds )
BTW, USC beat Michigan 32 to 18.

January 2- 8 a.m. rollout
Departure Day--There was some commotion at security, but my gang just chalked it up to a pax trying to sneak liquids past the checkpoint and didn't even try to elbow their way forward to see what was going on.
However once on board they did take note of the guy seated across the aisle, holding a helmet.
Talk about a surprise, who would have guessed, Imperial Storm Troopers travel coach.

A special thanks to Doug, who invited me to join the FTD Tournament of Roses festivites

Tournament of Roses
Santa Monica Convention and Vistor's Bureau[/list]

Keep'em flying