We accidentally saw a holiday parade!

I will just lead with the most topical float in the parade. It was a club for Star Wars Fans! Rebel Legion, they dress up, hang out, and do charity projects. This was the local chapter. http://www.rebellegion.com/

This parade goes down Broad, just a block from our apartment. We weren't going to go. We went out to our car, and the battery was dead.

(Aside about the battery: We had a 7 year extended life battery, it was like 5 years and 6 month old. And our mechanic in Seattle had been telling us to get a new one for about a year. But Tanner really wanted to get his money's worth, so we kept it. We called AAA. We also checked the prices of batteries with installation at Pep Boys, and what our mechanic told us. Turns out AAA's prices for batteries and installitaiton is right in the average. So we had them do it! It was so easy, we just sat in the car, while he tested the old battery, took it out and installed the new one. The Subaru is over 192,000 miles at this point. So we very grateful it is so reliable.)

That's right, sunglasses in December! Last weekend I hiked a few miles through town to a park, and then around a pond, and back to our house. I got sunburned, in December!!

Well's Fargo wagon and horses!

Lots of high school and college marching bands 

On the way back to our car the parade had started! We couldn't cross the street by our house. So we watched some, then walked to the end of the route, crossed, came back up and went home. We just weren't excited enough, and had not had breakfast, so we didn't watch the whole parade.

Seriously? This is a giant fruit cake, such an ugly float!

They really have military schools here, for high schoolers

We were impressed though. It was much bigger than we thought it would be, lots of people were out watching too.

Fancy dance troupe. 

Traditional Ecuadorian dance troupe

Local high school marching band. The crowd was fun at this point, shouting at kids and families they knew

 We also saw Nikki-Dee Ray, a local meteorologist. I am fascinated by her. She is southern, she has a southern accent, blonde, and pretty. She wears some really ugly dresses for the weather. She has a little white floofy dog who she takes with her to events and things, he was at the parade too, in a little dog Santa outfit. But Tanner did not get a picture of her. She just seems like a walking stereotype, but she is fun on the news and seems good at her job. Here is her Facebook, featuring her little dog and all! https://www.facebook.com/nikkideeray/

My favorite float was the Peppa's!  They are the pep band for VCU. They were playing Turn Down for What!  It was hilarious. The whole crowd started dancing. Tanner's good friend Jon was in the UW Pep Band. We really need to go to a few sporting events, just to have fun and take advantage of Tanner's student discount.

Yay holidays!