Happy New Year

The Escapees RV club has really kept us busy and entertained while we have been here in the northern Los Angeles area.  Since we last posted on Saturday, we have been to many different activities. 

 

We spent most of Sunday at a horse arena operated by the City of Los Angeles where many of the units in Wednesday’s parade were able to perform with their horses.  They showed off lots of horses, costumes, carriages, and performed many acts.  This was a real horse-lovers dream event.  One highlight was the performance by the Budweiser Clydesdales.  The 8-horse team turned 90 degrees to its wagon a couple of times to show sharp turns in the beer delivery business.  After the parade, they are off to a secret location to film their Super Bowl ad.

 

Monday’s activities were split between a full morning at BandFest and a quiet afternoon at the Huntington Library.  Bandfest is the chance for the high school marching bands to perform their routines on a football field.  Fifteen high schools and the host Community College bands played during shows over a few days.  We saw 5 schools including the only marching band in Alaska from Palmer. 

 

The Huntington was a showplace of art, horticulture gardens, and a historic library of English literature.

 

Tuesday was a quiet “Free Day” allowing us to do whatever we’d like and preparing for our New Years Eve party.  Now keep in mind that most of us are retired seniors, and we had to leave early for the parade on Wednesday.  As a result, the New Year was rung in at 12:00 midnight EASTERN time (based on TV’s NYC’s Times Square broadcast).

 

On New Years Day the bus left our RV park at 5:00 AM, allowing an hour to drive about 40 miles to a large parking lot.  We found our seats around 6:30 a.m. and waited for the parade to start at 8.  People watching was very interesting while we waited.  The parade was wonderful!  The weather perfect – sunny and in the 60’s.  Here is the band from Rosemont MN

         

We viewed the parade with 700,000 of our closest friends!  Yes, it was packed – but we got in and out surprisingly fast.  Obviously, they have done this before.

           

After the parade, the floats are all taken to a park nearby where they are on display for 3 days.  We went to the park for the afternoon and walked around there in the 70 degree weather and took more pictures.

         

 

Last night was our final dinner with everyone on the tour.  We had another great catered meal of barbecued tri tip, lemon chicken and other fixins with carrot cake for dessert – yum!  We met lots of new people, including some other Nomads who were here, and got to spend time with Dave and Nancy.  All in all, a good 6 days!  Now is our time to recuperate.