I grew up in Pasadena. I grew up watching the Rose Parade.

My parents owned a restaurant on Colorado Blvd, and almost every New Years day, we watched the Rose Parade from the roof of the restaurant or on the sidewalk.

I never got tired of it. I loved the excitement and crowds, and picking up roses from the street after the parade.

Then the restaurant relocated, we got older, and did not go to the parade anymore.

When I was in college one year, I was one of those crazy people who camped out on the sidewalk overnight on Colorado Blvd. I remember being too tired in the morning to enjoy the parade. But still, I loved the Rose Parade.

That was the last time I remember seeing the parade in person, until this year 2011.

I set the alarm for 4:00am, and went with my friends to their mailbox business on Colorado Blvd, and watched the parade sitting comfortably on the front row on the sidewalk!

In all my years watching the parade, I think this was the first time I fully appreciated the parade – the bands, the beautifully decorated floats,  the horses. I even looked intently at the Boy and Girl Scouts who carried the banners (my friend’s daughter was one of them), and waved to the pooper scoopers who followed the horses.

My only regret was leaving immediately after the parade. We didn’t want to get caught in a huge traffic jam, so we took a side street and hopped onto the freeway to go home. We should’ve followed the parade down Colorado Blvd and look for stray roses (but flowers don’t seem to fall from the floats like they used to, too bad someone invented strong glue.)

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