On the day after Christmas, Steve and I decided to drive to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl parade. The next day, we packed. We also booked three things: 1) bleacher seats for the parade, 2) a hotel outside Pasadena for New Year's eve night, and 3) reservations on December 31st at the Getty Museum. On Saturday, we were on the road heading west before dawn! Doing crazy things like this was one of the reasons we retired! We knew we were in for an adventure!
On the way, we stopped at Cadillac Ranch on the west side of Amadillo, Texas. We've stopped there before but this time, we were handed an extra can of spray paint and wrote "Go Bucks" on one of the vehicles. We are sure that this message didn't last even a half hour. The weather was gorgeous and dozens of people were visiting!
We made a quick visit to this Rock Shop in Holbrook, Arizona ... very near Petrified Forest National Park. The last time we were there, it was for sale. We joked about buying it because we hadn't found a retirement house yet. Well ... its' still for sale. Thankfully, we found our church before seriously considering this unique location ... though I would have like to purchase a small dinosaur to take with us.
It took three days to get to California and to Amboy Crater. The first time we saw this dormant volcano cinder cone was forty years ago ... when Steve was still in grad school. Like this trip, we were driving to Pasadena to cheer for our Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl. We didn't have time to hike up to the rim then. We didn't have time during our last visit either, but this time we made it. According to my AllTrail app, the hike was 3.4 miles. Because we arrived rather late in the afternoon, we had to really hurry the pace. Yet, we got a great sunset from the center of the crater and managed to return to our car even though it was dark by the time we got there!
On New Year's Eve we went to the Getty Museum. I'd been there once before ... 2001. Steve had never been to this fantastic museum complex. We hoped to view VanGogh's Irises but they were moved from their usual location to a smaller room that included unique ultra-violent lighting that exposed some of the brushstrokes that are used to analyze the work and aid in conservation matters. Due to the small size of the room, a limited number of visitors were allowed inside at a time. The line for this special exhibit was LONG. We decided to skip it and we are glad we did! There is no way to see everything else! The place is incredible and FREE. On-line reservations are all one needs!
The medieval section was obviously my favorite. I snapped dozens and dozens of photos ...
... capturing things that jumped out at me ... like this Adoration of the Magi with its rich, red background ...
... and this gorgeous painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder called The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark.
I'd never seen or studied this painting but got totally caught up in the details like ...
... the pair of porcupine right in the front and ...
... and these playful but rather aggressive leopards that sort of reminded me of my cats, Ernie and Minnie.
The showcases of early glass included this totally unique vessel.
I was transfixed with this sculpture. The different materials were exquisite, especially the way the bronze part of the garment blended seamlessly into the marble.
The period rooms were one after another more gorgeous than the last ... and I have no earthly idea how that clock was mounted on the mirror!
The view to Los Angeles with the cactus garden in the foreground was also just beautiful. On New Year's Eve, the Getty closed a bit early: 4:00 PM. Because one accesses the complex via a tram from the parking facility, we knew to leave before the mad rush. Yet, there was already a long line waiting for the tram. A guard told us that we could walk down to save time. That walk was also great ... and totally downhill. Soon, we were in downtown LA meeting our friends!
Mark was part of our Block O gang back in the early 1980s. Block O is the student card-flashing and cheering section for The Ohio State Buckeyes football season. Kate is from outside NYC. They got married in 1986. Steve was the "best man". Well ... they came out to Pasadena too! They actually flew from a Christmas in Ireland with one of their kids' family back to Chicago ... and three hours later ... on to LA. They were tired but happy. We had a great time at dinner and then met one another the next morning on Colorado Boulevard before the Rose Bowl Parade. Time with them was one of the best highlights of this trip ... one we didn't even know could happen until we were driving west (and while Mark and Kate were flying west!) Gotta love social media for putting us together!
Our seats for the parade were incredible. We were up in the bleachers but directly behind one of the ABC camera crews filming the event. The weather couldn't have been better.
Airplanes flew overhead spelling "Happy New Year" in vapors from their exhaust ... sort of like the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz movie! Amazingly, that witch made an appearance on this Wicked themed float!
There was no way to select a favorite float! But if push came to shove, both Steve and I really liked this bowling themed one! It reminded us of the years back in Columbus when Steve was a competitive bowler ... plus, the pins rotated!
Of course the little float for The Ohio State Buckeye cheerleaders got a great response from the crowd. There were plenty of Oregon Ducks around but I really think more scarlet and gray fans were in attendance.
The Ohio State Marching Band (known as "The Best Band in the Land" ... and rightfully so!) played Beautiful Ohio when passing our bleachers.
Two of the floats had erupting volcanoes! After climbing Amboy Crater, I really liked them!
This Cal Poly University, dinosaur themed float was wonderful. It became quite obvious that the shorter set of bleachers directly across the seat from us was filled with Cal Poly students. They went totally nuts. It was fun to watch!
With more than forty floats, decorated vehicles carrying celebrities (like Grand Marshall Billie Jean King), various horse clubs, marching bands, the parade's royal court, and other features, the two hours just flew by! I cannot imagine the complex nature of pulling this parade off! Apparently, the last float ... pictured above ... wasn't shown on television! It was followed by a giant-sized tow truck with the company name "The End of the Line" and a squad of police cars.
The distance from our location on Colorado Boulevard to outside the Rose Bowl stadium is 1.9 miles. The walk is mostly downhill. We were in high spirits getting their and had a wonderful time walking through aisles of tailgating parties. We assumed that a few scalpers would be hawking game tickets but they were still BUYING. Presumably, selling would start closer to kickoff. Steve and I decided not even to attempt getting into the game. We made the right decision despite the Buckeye victory! After all, we stayed outside Pasadena and took the 6:30 AM metro to the parade. If we got into the game, it would be dark by the end ... and we'd have a 1.9 mile back to the metro station. So, we left for a sports bar with thirteen giant screens broadcasting the teams until the end: OSU 41. Oregon 21. This decision allowed us to stay north of Los Angeles and to go the next day ...
... to visit my cousin Monika and her husband Karl at their place at Lake Isabella! We could have stayed much, much longer. Conversations were easy and quick paced but our luck with good weather was about to run out. We had to leave in order to beat days of rain on our drive back.
Even so, we did make two stops! We hiked at Walnut Canyon National Monument around Puebloan cave dwellings and ...
