Therese's Travels

Five Days in Sunny California--"The End"

Friday morning I had to be down in the lobby at 9 a.m. Joe wasn't yet well enough to fly so his sister was picking him up for an extended stay. We parted, and I flew home alone. Great conversation on the way with other Penn Staters, who turned out to be from my hometown no less.

Joe stayed in CA another five days. He went to the wineries in Temecula, a place we had been a number of years before. He said it's changed significantly--more wineries, more tourists, a less intimate experience. He also went to the Huntington Botanical Gardens, where he took many pictures of cacti in bloom. He highly recommends it.

Reflecting on the five days: I didn't expect to like Beverly Hills. I had no interest in seeing Rodeo Drive and, as it turns out, I drove past it a number of times but never drove on it. But I liked the area. Beverly Hills was pretty and with only one exception everyone I met was friendly and helpful. Some high points to a rough week: I will be forever grateful to the woman who stopped when I was standing outside the parking garage trying to find the hospital I had just left Joe at. Annie at Mickey Fine's (yes, we even ate there again on our last day together!) made us feel at home. And the Beverly Hilton was beautiful and well maintained (and I got to see it on TV when the Golden Globes were on!).

Five Days in Sunny California--Day 4

Finally, the day we came for! Yes, "I love a parade!" We had to be in the hotel lobby at 5 a.m. for the bus to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl parade and game. We thought 5 a.m. was painfully early since Pasadena was less than an hour away, but after experiencing rush-hour traffic a few days before, we figured they knew what they were doing.

Smooth bus trip. I learned that to get good views for the Tournament of Roses Parade, you need to have tickets for reserved seats. (People camp out all night along the parade route for good nonreserved viewing.) We had to walk a few blocks from where the bus parked but it just added to the anticipation. They warned us it would be cold, but not surprisingly the PA contingent wasn't bothered.  We had to wait a while for the parade to start (and every time I think of the wait, Kool & the Gang's "Celebration" pops into my head because the float in front of us kept playing it over and over and over).

Finally, it started! Float after float, band after band, celebrity after . . . well, yeah, some of them, too. Grand Marshall Cloris Leachman looked fabulous!  The floats were magnificent. When I was a kid, I had the pleasure of marching in many a parade representing my school, so I was particularly interested in the bands. With one exception, they were phenomenal. Manners are clearly not what they used to be--the USC band chanted "Penn State sucks" as they passed our Blue and White contingent. The only black mark on an otherwise wonderful experience.

Back on the bus, went to the game, the pain of a loss exacerbated by the taunting from USC fans and the team. Good-natured teasing is one thing, but that's not what we were hearing. It wasn't just my section of the stadium either. Again, is this considered acceptable? I had been so excited to go to the Rose Bowl, the "Granddaddy of them all..." etc. I would not recommend the experience to anyone.

Bus ride back to the hotel. We weren't that hungry so we went down to the hotel bar for a drink and a snack. Our waiter was excellent--he could see we were exhausted and took very good care of us. It was a good way to end our last evening together in Beverly Hills.