Rose Bowl and another Big Ten Oops

Once again we were invited to attend the Rose Bowl with Northwestern Mutual.  They are the presenting sponsor for the Rose Bowl game and invite several of their top sales agents to the game along with their significant others.  It is really well done and while you have to travel and do some business over the New Year's break, it balances out in the end with the interesting events you get to attend.  We flew into not quite sunny and warm Pasadena on Friday before New Year's.  California was getting some much needed rain and the temps were only in the 50's.  We were hoping for it to be closer to 70, but since it was only in the teens to 20's back home, it was still a major improvement.  We had a great buffet dinner that night as we got to meet all the people there for the event and try mightily to remember everyone's name.

Saturday we were up early to tour the Rose Bowl stadium before heading to the Rose Bowl house and the float barn.  The float barn was amazing again this year.  It is fascinating to see all the effort and design that goes into making one of the floats for the parade.  We watched two people painstakingly gluing on dried banana chips for the robe of a statue and they estimated it would take the two of them 6-8 hours to finish.  

Saturday night was the New Year's eve bash with dinner, dancing, and champagne.  Although we celebrated on New York time which meant we could all head for our rooms way before midnight- yeah for that since everyone knows I melt after 10:30.  The parade and game this year were held on Monday, since there is a local agreement to not hold the parade on Sunday.

We were up really early to get to the parade stands where we got to watch two hours of amazing floats and marching bands.  The parade starts with a flyover of a B-2 bomber which doesn't look like it should be able to stay up in the air at all.  One advantage of the stands we sit in is free Krispy Kreme doughnuts and hot chocolate.  Since I wasn't feeling good last year I didn't get to enjoy the doughnuts.  Lets just say that I made up for it this year!  After the parade it was off to the stadium grounds for a tailgate party prior to the game.  By tailgate, I mean a tent with bar, TV's, and couches.  But we did have hot dogs and hamburgers to eat - so it counts as a tailgate.

I won't go into the game since the Big Ten lost but it was a really exciting game to watch and cheer for no matter what team you were rooting for.  All too soon it was time to head back to the hotel and home the next day.

P.S.  The float picture is the Northwestern Mutual entry.  On it is Edie who battled childhood cancer and is winning so far.   She is joined by her family and the doctor who tried a Pfizer drug to help her beat her cancer (shout out to our Pfizer connections).  We had the opportunity to chat with her doctor and what led her to try the Pfizer compound - it felt good to be talking science once again.   For those that don't know, Northwestern Mutual is a supporter of childhood cancer research (primarily through Alex's Lemonade Stand) and have used their float entry to highlight one of these courageous kids for the last few years.