I don’t have much to say about the Rose Parade. It’s a made for TV event. It’s not nearly so glamorous up close. The fun part was being part of the scene.
We got on a tour bus in Lancaster way before sunup. I woke up on the bus just as we were about to exit the freeway in Pasadena and saw a glorious pink sunrise with monkey shinny up trees in black silhouette. (That’s what we used to call the palm trees in LA when I was a kid.)
The bus parked about a block from our reserved bench seats. It was fun being part of the crowd. We would have been doing good to get up to 5 mph. 
It was great letting someone else do the driving!
We were surrounded by red. People from Ohio. They occupied their time by doing cheers from one side of the street to the other.
Everytime any horses were in the parade, which was often, they were followed by a pooper scooper team. The ohio people cheered the loudest whenever a scooper team went by. Often the scoopers would do a little dance of some sort for the cheering crowd. It was great.
A photogenic dog.
It was quite a scene!
I tried my best to get us on tv but to no avail.
We were way up close
On the way home we stopped and took photos of this Lutheren Church in Mojave. It has cool stained glass windows.
My flight to LA last week-end went really well. I sat next to a pilot who was heading home. It was great because he knew some of the landmarks we were passing over, so I could sort of tell where we were.
The sky was clear for most of the way, so I was able to see the geological formations really well. It made me think about Phyllis crossing the country on her bike. I couldn’t even see cars down there, let alone bikes. It gave me an even better appreciation for the enormous distance she traveled.
When we were crossing New Mexico, I asked the pilot if he had ever seen anything strange and unidentified in the sky. He said no and laughed.
Then he told me he had been flying at night awhile back during the big meteor shower. He said it looks really different from that high up. He actually saw meteors that didn’t burn out until they were lower in the sky than the plane was. Apparently they looked like they were falling straight down rather than in an arc.
I loved the view over what I think was Phoenix. The pattern created by the tile roofs in subdivision patterns made a very cool mosaic.
I had several hours to layover in the LA airport.
Boots are in. Very tall boots with very high heels. Wear them with tights, skirts, dresses, pants, but they must be very, very tall, just barely below the knee.
There was a Wolfgang Puck restaurant near my gate. Yumm. I splurged and got the roasted veggie pizza. It was very good!
I brought it back to eat at the gate waiting area. The restaurant was too busy. A tiny space packed with chairs and a huge tv showing football with constant commercial interuption. Too much!
I sat down across from 3 guys. When I started to eat they started to laugh and talk amongst themselves. Even though it was spanish, I could tell it had something to do with my food. They got up and left and 15 minutes later they came back with a pizza box each. I think I should get a commission! It really was good and not more expensive than fancy pizza would have been in a more normal place.
There were some really creative methods people were using to transport their children. I saw a little girl about 3 years old go by, riding in her child carry seat which was attached to the rolling suitcase her father was pulling. Earlier I saw an older girl, maybe 7 or 8, again riding on her dad’s rolling luggage but this time she was astride the suitcase facing forward like she was riding a horse. Very creative.
The flight out of LA was one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen of a city from above. We flew out over the ocean and then circled back. It was very dark out by then and the lights lining the coast sparckled and twinkled. Didn’t take long to get to my destination on the high desert. It was a wonderful reunion with my sister I haven’t seen in a really long time.
Here are some pictures of the birds outside a window in my home away from home.
This one perches on top of a little fir tree.
Several others congregate in a pomegranate tree.
My sister is always finding pictures people took where they didn’t notice the background, and something like a telephone pole will be perfectly aligned to where it looks like it’s sticking out of the top of someone’s head.
I added this photo for her benefit. I couldn’t have aligned the pomegranate shell more perfectly if I had tried. It looks like this little bird is wearing a cap.
I love sitting out in the warmth of the high desert sun.
