Boomer on the Loose: First Rose Bowl

When I see the Rose Parade on television, it always reminds me of my first time at the Rose Bowl and Parade.  My first time in Southern California.
I was in college, and our Big Ten school was playing against USC in the Rose Bowl.  Late 60's.  So late that O.J. Simpson was playing.  We got creamed, of course.  What I remember most about the game is that it seemed to go on forever, and as the sun went down on the opposite grandstands, there was golden light that seemed to warm the whole stadium reflecting madly into my eyes.   Being from the Midwest in winter, I had no sunglasses. It was bright.
And the parade!  I don't remember any of the floats or their flower smells.  What I remember is how early we had to get up to get to Pasadena in the pre-dawn.  A group of us, two girls and four guys, had stayed up pretty much all of New Year's Eve. We didn't want to waste our first New Year's Eve in California.  But we had to catch our tour bus that took us to the parade.  Being 21, we all preferred having new experiences to wasting time sleeping.
Of course, my most vivid memory is of looking for a bathroom on the parade route.  I'm sure now there are porta-potties galore, but I think they didn't exist then.  The problem was solved somehow, and I wonder what I did between the parade and the start of the Rose Bowl game.  But I saw it all.
It was a great experience, but not great enough to repeat.  After I moved to Long Beach 10 years later, I never felt like braving the drive and the crowds again.
Glad  I did it once, though.