This was one of Karen's major bucket list items (and payback for Oshkosh). We signed up for a Fantasy RV Rose Parade Tour almost a year ago. Fantasy Tours runs the logistics and we just have to show up and have fun. Our base was in Bonelli Hills RV park near Pomona. It turned out to be a great spot as it is in a fantastic regional park surrounding Puddingstone Lake. The views were spectacular and bike rides were lots of fun. The RV park itself turned out to be really nice with lots of grass and trees. And it was literally right next door to Brackett Airport (I swear I had nothing to do with that). The folks at Brackett were very accommodating for me and the plane. I will have a separate post of those activities.
The big problem with the Rose Parade Adventure is what to include without the post getting way too long. We took pictures of every float. We took pictures of horses, bands and working on the float. But we have to cut some out so here is our best effort. And we broke it in to two parts. The next installment will be all about floats and flowers!
Equestrian Show
The Rose Parade is more than floats made from flowers. An equally important part is the horses. But in the parade the horses just ride in line. Cute, but a little boring. And many of these teams drove across the country to be in the parade. So they created an Equestrian show that allowed the horses to show off. Fantasy tours brought our tour buses right up to the arena and gave us time to really soak everything in. There were all girl riding groups, the Budweiser Clydesdales and my favorite the 1st Cavalry show team. These were all active duty soldiers out of Ft. Hood. The team captain was an actual female captain in the army. It was quite the show to see them play charge! and draw sabers.
Band Fest
Part of the tour included one section of the Band Fest. Just like the horses, in the parade the bands are pretty confined to marching in a straight line. The Band Fest allows them to strut their stuff. And MAN could they strut. There were combined high school bands from the LA area, bands from overseas (Japan) and college bands represented by Southern University from Louisiana. Here are some pictures and videos that represent the day.
Next up, all about Floats!