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New Year

I'll be THINKING about--but not actually DOING it--joining the folks who camp out along the Tournament of Roses Parade route. That's something I've wanted to do all my life, but still haven't.

When I was a kid growing up in Pasadena we lived 3 blocks south of Colorado Blvd, so we'd get up early on New Year's and walk 3 blocks and be there. Later, after we moved to Arcadia, I stopped going. Then I moved out of state for a zillion years.

I'd watch the Rose Parade on TV--while freezing my ass off in a place like Dallas, where it might be 7 degrees, with inches of ice everywhere--wistfully thinking about SOMEDAY being there again in person, basking in the Southern California sunshine, perhaps camping out on the route the night before.

Now, back home in Arcadia, I've only been to the parade a couple of times--the last time was literally a few weeks before my brain tumor was [finally] diagnosed in 2009. I was so dizzy I kept losing my balance while trying to walk back to my car. :eek:

I've already heard a lot of air traffic going over my house today, presumably helicopters and planes scoping things out for the parade tomorrow.

The military aircraft that do the awesome flyovers at the beginning of each year's parade sometimes fly RIGHT over my house on their way. I guess it depends on where they're taking off from as to which direction they need to go. I'm HOPING they'll be overhead tomorrow morning! Here's a pic of a B-2 stealth bomber I took at the parade in 2009:

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Damn, those things go FAST!! :eek:

Finally, I have to say I get the biggest kick out of picking out tourists vs natives in the crowd at the parade. It's so easy! Tourists: dressed in short sleeves, shorts, and sandals. Natives: bundled up like Eskimos in parkas, blankets, hats, coats, gloves... *sigh* Although I AM a native, having lived where it actually gets *COLD*, I'm not in the gloves and coat crowd. :D
 
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Heard, but couldn't see, jets flying over/near my house about 5 minutes ago. It was very cloudy. I've got the parade on but haven't seen the jets I just heard, so I'm guessing they were on their way back to whichever base they started from.

BTW, had it not been for my husband being shipped to Edwards Air Force Base [here in SoCal] when he was injured overseas, we would never have met! He's from Florida, but the Air Force shipped him here for surgery. We met in Hollywood. And the rest, as they say, is history. :D
 
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