Rain.......

.....gives a new meaning to the word FLOAT, doesn't it?




It drizzled, it rained, it poured. For the first time since 1955, the Rose Float Parade was rained on. Did I say "rained on"? By the time Enchanted Reverie "floated" by the TV cameras it was pouring rain.

The boy and I hit pasadena about 8:30 on January 1 and the rain was what I would call a heavy mist. Jen, the boy and I made our way down Orange Grove to find our float's designated parking spot, empty. They had not yet gotten the float to its staging area. When the got the float to the spot, the operators were cold, hungry and tired. We spent the night in the rain, supporting our float operators however we could. We brought them food, dry clothes and laughter.
Jen and I went to her car and were attempting to get back to the float with dry clothes for the guys, when we were stopped because the police had the bomb dogs out doing a sweep. We were told that it would be an hour and a half before they would let us through. They MUST be kidding! About the same time, we began to hear LeAnn Rimes belting out her tunes. We may be blonde but we are not stupid. We could see her stage from where we were.

After about 20 minutes we decided to hike to another entrance and low and behold, we were allowed to pass. We saw the bomb dogs numerous times throughout the rest of the morning and NONE of the other entrance/exits were blocked. WhatEVER! We were resourseful and did manage to get the dry clothes to the guys.

Tournament announces trophy winners @ 6:00 AM the morning of the parade and we were there, waiting the results. Enchanted Reverie did not win any trophies and we walked away quite unhappy. The REAL kicker is that the float that won Best Theme was the same concept that we had presented to tournament early on and it was rejected because, in their words, "the concept was not MAGICAL enough". Not magical enough, or someone had already presented the concept? Let's try some honesty there Tournament, please!

By 6:30 we were all freezing, wet and miserable. We talked to our operators and they told us that if they could they would go back to the hotel and watch the parade on TV. With their blessings and our wishes of Good Luck, we headed for the hotel and they headed back to the float. I can honestly say that it was a good decision to get out of the elements. That rain was not good. The Cal Poly supporters you may have seen on the broadcast were not out on the street all night prior to the parade.

Ok, we are in the process of shaking off the 2006 Tournament of Roses Parade and setting our sights on the 118th Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2007. We find out the theme on January 15. Its gonna be a long year, people but Jen is dedicated ( or insane) to one final year as Rose Float Committe Chairman. After this past year, I am VERY proud of her accomplishments and her dedication.

scoop ya later,

~shop-still love a Rose Parade-girl