The Best Friends in the World

I couldn't ask for better friends in the whole, wide world!

Last night at the home of Paul and Margie Grossman, some of the friends who made it possible for me to ride on the Kiwanis International Float in the Rose Parade gathered for a dinner and debriefing with me about my experiences. It was so sweet of them to have this post-parade celebration!

That's Claire and Bill Bogaard in the top photo.

Below are Dale Downs, Nancy Esbenshade and Judy Kent.

Ben Green and Dianne Philibosian:

Paul Grossman and Dale Downs:

Margie Grossman and Judy Kent:

Jerram Swartz and Dennis Downs:

Claire Bogaard and Tom Seifert:

Betty Ho and Deb Swartz:

Thank you so much, everybody!

See more about my experiences here, here and here.

More Kiwanis International Float Photos

Many thanks to Isabel Chavez for the photo above and the next one below.

And many thanks also to Kathy Hernandez for this one (she was something like nine stories up!):

See more here and here:

I Love a (Rose) Parade!

Well, yesterday was quite simply a dream come true and the thrill of a lifetime!

Thanks to a group of wonderful and generous friends, I rode on the Kiwanis International float in the Rose Parade (see this post for background). That's me waving to the right of horse in the photo above.

The day before the parade, all the riders got together in front of the float at the Rosemont Pavilion. The woman in the chair is 99-year-old Eleanor, who rode on the Vista del Arroyo Hotel float when she was 16. The others are Kiwanis International officials, Key Club high school students from around the world and Miss Latina Global. It has been the wish of the boy at front left, all his short life, to ride in the Rose Parade, so Kiwanis International flew him here from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Our navigator, who sat under the front of the float giving instructions to the driver in the back of the float:

The driver's seat:

Julie was trying to escape my lens in this next photo and almost made it! Her father, a member of Kiwanis for 50 years, was scheduled to be next to me on the float but was too ill so Julie rode in his honor, carrying a framed photo of herself with her dad in healthier circumstances. The guy in the white suit is a Tournament of Roses official.

The Wrigley Mansion, headquarters of the Tournament of Roses, is owned by the City of Pasadena. I shot this as we were passing the mansion on Orange Grove Boulevard:

Looking up at the Goodyear Blimp while "floating" down Colorado Boulevard:

A miniscule glimpse of the estimated 700,000 people who lined the 5.5-mile Rose Parade route:

My long-time PIO pal Karen George shot this on her TV screen in Minnesota:

By the end of the day I was happy, giddy, emotional, you name it! It was the thrill of a lifetime.

I can never repay the fantastic generosity of the friends who made this happen for me.

And many thanks to Cafe Pasadena for the top photo, which he shot from a rooftop on Colorado Boulevard.

See the next post down for what led up to this incredible day! And then go here for even more photos.

A One-horse Open Sleigh!

Thanks to a couple of dozen generous friends, I'm going to be in the Rose Parade -- on the Kiwanis International float.

Here are some of those fantastic folks who are making this happen:

And those were just the friends who could be at McCormick & Schmick's on Dec. 21 to surprise me! There are several others as well.

I'm told it's a combination welcome-back-to-life and happy-retirement gift. I will be forever grateful for their generosity and friendship.

On Wednesday afternoon I visited the float in the Rosemont Pavilion near the Rose Bowl Stadium, thanks to Phoenix Decorating Company's Chuck Hayes, director of sponsor relations, and Dave Wallach, Kiwanis International Rose Float riders coordinator.

Rough illustrations for all 2012 Rose Parade floats had to be submitted and approved long before the 2011 parade, then the long process of 2012 float-building began just days after the 2011 parade.

Welders, engineers, designers, floral directors, scads of volunteers and more bring the floats to life.

I borrowed these photos of the Kiwanis International float in progress from Phoenix:

Horse head in the making:

Welder working on base:

Wire mesh icicles for the base:

Wire mesh fully in place everywhere:

I took the remaining photos below, all related to this float.

Every square inch of float exterior, even the wheels of the chassis, must be covered in natural plant, vegetable, fruit, tree, seed, grain and/or flower materials. Deciding which types will be used is a meticulous process decided a year in advance (which is why this board is pretty faded):

If you look closely, you'll see that the sleigh is covered with seeds of various natural colors (no dye allowed) and the trunks are covered in seaweed and other material. Those pink pads on top of the trunks will be covered with huge cascades of flowers.

Volunteers carefully attached thousands upon thousands of seeds to the horse, along with what looks like it might be pampas grass on the mane:

Two floats down from Kiwanis International -- the Roy Rogers Riders Club:

Yep, that's the honest-to-goodness Trigger, as good-lookin' as when he was taxidermed many years ago! Bullet will be his side. This massive float will celebrate the 100th birthday of the late King of the Cowboys. I grew up watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on TV in the 1950s, so this is a particular thrill!

Look for me on the Kiwanis International Float! I'll be sitting on one of the perches near the top of the base. On Orange Grove Boulevard I'll be on the west side, on Colorado Boulevard you'll see me on the north side and on Sierra Madre Boulevard I'll be waving from the west side. So what if I won't be on the "TV side" at Orange Grove and Colorado -- there'll be plenty of open spaces between the horse's legs, so you should be able to see me (and I you) just fine!

All the floats, including the riders, have to be on Orange Grove Boulevard for judging on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.. The parade will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 2, since it's never on a Sunday.

Oh, boy!!!!