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To get a free front row view, some folks camp out overnight . . .
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45 minutes before the parade and folks are still streaming in
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Pretty much all these folks are in our group . . .
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The eye in the sky for the TV coverage
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The blue and white guy was with the Penn State crowd
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This guy was advertising something. In wing-tip shoes, even . .
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Five airplanes make for dot-matrix skywriting . . . .
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Turns out to be a commercial for a TV show . .
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The parade starts with the police sweeping the street
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Gotta be one of the oldest police cars around
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The official Pace Car
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The free seats . . .
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That's the theme of the parade
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The US Marines Mounted Color Guard, with the colors
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First float - American Honda celebrates 50 years as well as the parade theme
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The Asimo robot replica is almost 50 feet tall
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You gotta believe those drum majors are gonna be really pooped in a couple hours
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First band - Prairie View A&M University from Houston TX
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"Saturday Matinee" from Trader Joe's. Recognize anybody?
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And all covered in vegetable matter . . .
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These folks are all the kids and grandkids of famous cowboy movie stars
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The float is from the cities of La Canada and Flintridge, and is totally volunteer-built.
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Lots of animation makes the float lots of fun - it won the animation trophy.
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The US Marine Corps Band. A real crowd favorite
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RFD-TV celebrated the 40th anniversary of the tv show Hee Haw. Yee-haw!
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The All-American Cowgirl Chicks from Weatherford, Texas
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The Rainbird Lawn Sprinkler Folks had lots of jungle on their float
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The guy driving the jeep is actually driving the float. Jack Hanna is riding shotgun
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All of these floats have to pass under a 16.5ft underpass - hinges are carefully hidden
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The Science Hill High School Band is from Tennessee
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Lots of twirling with almost every band
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The City of Mission Viejo carried a diving pool and several divers
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They specialized in cannonballs, making good splashes
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The Herald Trumpets introduce the Royal Court
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Tis the Rose Queen and her court
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The queen gives us The Wave
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The Pasadena City College Honor Band is the hometown band in every Rose Parade
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More twirling . . . .
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And that's how they decorated them, way back then
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Vera Bradley designs handbags. That red floral one is her new 2009 design.
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The Valley Hunt Club started the Rose Parade in 1890 using vehicles like this one
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We love that face . . .
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Female Rotarians celebrate 20 years of Rotary involvement with A Midsummer Night's Dream
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The Hawaii All-State Marching Band had so much to see
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More grass skirts than we've ever seen in one place
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These guys were popular with the crowd. It wasn't all that warm, either.
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Colorful!
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The Lions Clubs Miracle Worker float had blind people marching alongside the float
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The Budweiser Light Beer Hitch. Not really - they're miniature donkeys
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Oh yeah, there was a football game too. This is the USC pep squad
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A USC mascot - looks invincible
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Another USC mascot, with beautiful horse - Judy would love hair like that!
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A very colorful USC band - but Penn State fans fill those bleachers!
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And then the USC band. We wondered why it didn't get a better reception from this California crowd.
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Farmer's Insurance float was entitled A Family Outing
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They had to get special dispensation from the Rose Gods to not floralize that classic car
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Camelot returns from the City of Cerritos
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A bunch of folks from the Medieval Times Dinner Tournament . . .
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The Royal British Legion Youth Band from Essex, England
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The Rose Festival president gets to wear a red jacket and ride in a red car.
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The City of Alhambra offers a Salute to the USO
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The Alhambra High School Band followed their float
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They also had twirlers
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The Martinez Family twirls ropes a lot
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Can you imagine doing that for several miles of parade?
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OK - here comes OUR float! Yea Sierra Madre!
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It's a Bollywood Wedding - that's the bride in there
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The elephant gave us a special nod as it passed by
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You've seen the cartoons. Admit it . . .
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New Mexico celebrates Beep Beep.....
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The City of Hope is a leading cancer research center . . . .
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The Salvation Army Band
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The Lutheran Hour float - they didn't sing for us, though . . .
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The Grand Marshall was Cloris Leachman . . .
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She's riding with her grandkids, one of which is definitely not happy
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You've seen the skateboard riding dog in those commercials - now Tillman's 16 ft tall!
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The City of Anaheim celebrates all of its entertainment venues
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The Long Beach Mounted Police . . .
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Celebrity Spotting - that's Dick VanPatten with the silly grin . . .
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Pretty spiffy uniforms for police
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The Renaissance Revival is from the city of Long Beach
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The Frank Ballou Majestic Marching Knights from Washington DC has a great story. Google them
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The National Association of Realtors should have won the Irony Award.
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There's the wave again . . .
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Any float with a Grand Piano is OK in our book.
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Much of the ladies' gowns were floral
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The Kiwanis Club float celebrates the great outdoors
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That's glamour!
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The Golden Valley High School Band from Merced, CA
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The animals are pretty spectacular
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The mayor gets to ride in the parade, too
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This float had lots of animation . . . it was supposedly propelled by all those active folks
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The Penn State float got lots of noise from folks seated all around us
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When this band showed up, we realized we were seated in Penn State territory . . .
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The Wells Fargo classic stagecoaches . . . .
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We like this float. It's filled with detail . . .
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The detail is amazing, and you'd think it would attract birds, being mostly seeds
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Ahh, the good old days . . . .
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Homewood Patriot Band, Homewood Alabama
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Could you march miles and miles in those boots? And still smile?
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Bumper Cars from Cal Poly. They're having so much fun . . . .
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It's an amusement park on wheels . . .
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The largest entry in the parade was a Sesame Street float celebrating music - complete with multiple bands
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And, of course, twirlers . . . .
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Sesame Street cast members rode the float and waved
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Big Bird and the street sign both fold down for that underpass
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There were three satellite floats scattered amongst the band
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Each floatlet focused on a particular instrument - Abby Cadabby is into percussion
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A bunch of spiffy cowgirls with lots of silver saddles
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And Oscar, appropriately, travels with a steel drum band . . . .
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The City of Roseville has the smokiest entry in the parade
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They really get duded up . . .
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It was neat, but way too smoky . . .
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This band's from Reno.
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You'd think FTD would win an award in a floral parade. Nope.
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The costumes for the band from Mexico were spectacular
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So much for peripheral vision
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All 21 members of this group performed rope tricks
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Lots of detail from the city of Huntington Beach. We like the grille on the surfboard
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That's a happy family
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Love the expression on that iguana
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This band had a full bagpipe section - in kilts!
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The New Buffalo Soldiers, in Civil War dress
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All of the people riding the Stars of Life float are either transplant donors or recipients.
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The Budweiser Clydesdales always pull the City of St Louis float
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The sign carriers are strapped to a solid sign - not good for avoiding horse droppings on the pavement
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The Pride of Broken Arrow Oklahoma brought their twirlers
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The colors in the China Airlines float are spectacular
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This guy designed the China Airlines float. His bird's along for the ride
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The detail is amazing
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Another bunch of guys and gals on horses
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The Burbank Drive-In is showing a double feature
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Spectacular doesn't cover it
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It's called Going to the Fair.
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The detail goes all the way around
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The band is from Blue Springs Missouri
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The Jack in the Box food folk had a two-part float
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These folks all ride in and on antique fire fighting gear
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One of the roses on this float was flown aboard the Space Shuttle - this float won the Fantasy Trophy
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No, that's not the Governor up there. She's the gal who won the Iditerod
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A replica of the Alex Theatre in Glendale . . . .
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The band from Los Angeles
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Complete with twirlers
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And the float from Los Angeles . . .
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This one's from the Ronald McDonald House folks
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And there's Ronald himself
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The Riverside City College Marching Tigers
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That white horse is a Shire - and also is the largest known horse in the world, it says in the program
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A whole float full of DaVinci inventions . . . .
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Almost the end - and a bunch of musical frogs on the nature trail
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Those legs were kicking as the float rolled down the street
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And the parade ends with the Los Angeles County Mounted Deputies bringing up the rear