New Years Day - 2014

Ontario, CA -- Got up at 3:15 am this morning at our motel to be ready to eat breakfast at 4:00 AM, be on the bus at 4:30 AM so we could get to Pasadena and to our seats on viewing stand.  Turned out the traffic wasn't as bad as had feared and we were first bus in the parking area.  However, it was a different parking area than our tour guide had thought and was about 3/4 mile from our grandstand seats through a college campus.  This was quite a trek for many of our 70 to 86 year old people and took quite a while.

Photo at right is first float in parade.  Between Phyllis & myself we took something over 600 photos.  I have uploaded them to 2014 Rose Parade    Click on that link to view the pictures.  It will take a long time for me to edit these photos -- the are now entered right off the camera.  I will delete as needed, rotate, crop, and describe each photo as time permits.  Being on a bus tour and leaving for San Diego in the morning may not leave a lot of time to do this.

Temperature this morning as we left the motel was 48 degrees.  As we were coming back it was 77 degrees.  There was not much wind, so even this morning it was not too bad, but the sun was very welcome when it came up and finally shone on us.

Part of the pre-parade parade and he again showed up in the post-parade parade

 These two photos taken about 5:30 am on Colorado

 A few of the seemingly 100's of buses.

       Some of our gang from Iowa/Missouri/Nebraska

The Goodyear blimp was a ways off, no doubt over the same area that was being televised near the start of the parade.





Will work on rest of photos.  Some of are of all the wacko's who paraded up and down the street before the parade began.  Many spouting bible verses and warning the sinners; others having their own cause - some warning the California Governor about some issues and many other things.  An even bigger group followed the parade, probably 30 tow trucks, and a lot of people espousing some of their thoughts on something, usually not main-stream.  One thing you didn't see on TV was the one unit, after about a 15 minute delay, being towed by a tow truck through the parade.

We are off to San Diego tomorrow and will be picked up on our arrival by Kent and Karen Miles and will have supper with them and Kent's sister Karen and husband Bob from North Platte, NE tomorrow evening.

More later, Lynn