Kelly and Ben go to Washington: Happy Holidays! Part 3

We woke up early Monday morning and headed for Pasadena to see the Tournament of Roses Parade.

After struggling with the crowds, we found a good spot to view the floats. Neither of us had seen much of the parade on TV in the past, so we were very impressed with the detail and design of the flower covered floats.

Following the Rose Parade, the "Occupy" movement had their own parade, filled with creative signs and props.

There were hundreds of participants all under the close supervision of riot control forces.

With most the restaurants around us closed, we decided to grab a deli sandwich at a nearby grocery store and ate lunch on the bleachers of the parade route. It was a beautiful day in Pasadena and nice to be off our feet. As game time approached, we headed down to the tailgate area outside the stadium.

We played a few games, drank several Coke Zero free samples and Kelly sent a few frantic work emails before heading into the game.

We had great seats in the Wisconsin fan section, which created some friendly banter as Kelly took her seat in Oregon gear. Ben wore his Wisconsin jersey and an Oregon hat, which created an unbelievable amount of confusion with people. Once we explained that Ben's grandpa played for the badgers and Ben attended University of Oregon law school, people's concerns were eased. It was a great pre-game show, including a fabulous Wisconsin marching band performance. We also saw the B-2 stealth bomber fly over after the national anthem.

The game was exciting from the kickoff. Each team scored on their first 3 possessions and we saw a total of 10 touchdowns in the game.

It was back and forth for much of the first half, but it was the Ducks that had a great defensive stand on Wisconsin's final drive to secure championship.