I Love A Parade

Sunday morning I woke up with a brilliant idea. Why not go to Estes Park, one of my favorite mountain towns, spend the night, and be there for the Roof Top Rodeo Parade on Monday, July 6, 2015. I had not gone to the annual parade on the 4th of July in Greeley and felt as if something was missing in my life. By attending the parade in Estes my 4th of July parade mania would be fulfilled.

The weather was hot, I saw Wisconsin, Texas, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, California, Florida and Nebraska vehicle license plates,(and probably many other states I did not see), traffic crawled through the main street, sidewalks were jammed with people and not one elk could be seen wandering in the town. This did not cool my excitement as I joined the jillions of other persons going in and out of the novelty shops or as they are also known,  "tourist traps!"
In the evening I attended a Spanish mass (celebrated the first and third Sundays of the month) at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church. After mass the priest welcomed me and asked me which state I was from. I sheepishly said, "I'm from Arvada, Colorado." He said, "Well, welcome to our church anyway."

That evening it began to rain. The world became gray. I hoped that in the morning the sun would be shining for the parade. No such luck because I woke up to a dark sky and a steady drizzle. I wondered if there would even be a parade.  I parked my car near the parade route and waited. Everyone seemed to have an umbrella or wore clear plastic ponchos. The police were in yellow rain coats. When I heard the announcement that the parade was starting, I got my umbrella and joined all the other brave souls. Luckily, the drizzle stopped as the marchers neared where I was standing.

There were plenty of horse back riders; young, old, men, women all bouncing on the backs of beautiful horses.  I was surprised to see white
mules because I have only seen dark colored mules. The white ones were a first for me.
The day before I had seen a fancy car with two newly weds driving through town. Today, I saw the mayor of Estes in the same car and she also was waving at everyone! I do not know what kind of a car it was but the steering wheel was on the right side.

My favorite picture was of a lady horseback rider waving at me. The horse, not to be left out, seemed to be saying, "Hey, do you like my smile?"

After missing the parade in Greeley on the 4th of July and seeing the parade at Estes today, I am now parade satisfied and can wait another year to see another parade!