1983 Rose Bowl Parade

When I was 12 my grandmother drove me, my brother, and two of our cousins from Ogden Utah to Pasadena California for the 1983 Rose Bowl Parade. My brother had just gotten his drivers license so he had to be 16 which made our cousins 15 and 13. This trip has a few good stories in it, I wonder when and how they will fall into this garbled mess I'm creating. It started off without a hitch, unless you consider no front passenger window at the end of December a problem.

We were in the car heading down the freeway. We were going through a checklist of things. Gas? Check! Seat belts? Check! Flaps? Check! Windows up? It was at this moment I cranked the handle of the window to make sure it was tight. The cable or plastic something or another broke because of the brutally cold winter, causing the window to fall inside the door (that's the way it happened). There I was, 55 mph heading to California holding a pillow in an empty window hole freezing with my family. This trip was going to be fun.

Needless to say, four kids from Utah now in California, had to go to Disneyland. When we got there it felt like the park was celebrating some kind of anniversary. Fireworks up there, a parade over there, and plushie animals spread sporadically. I'm sure it was probably just an ordinary day in the enchanted park, but this time we were there. I have no idea what my grandmother was thinking bringing us to that kind of lunacy but she did. She didn't even bat an eye as I recall. She paraded four puberty stricken horn dogs right through the park. Sad to say, I have little to no recollection of that day. I do remember being overwhelmed by most things at the time, especially loud things, fast moving objects, and crowds. I was really enjoying myself. I'm just kidding it was fine, I'm sure. I'd imagine it was entertaining for me at that age. I'm not sure what you'd have to do to get me there now.

Avoiding that which spooked me I found myself welcomed to the somewhat quiet sanctuary of the penny arcade. I'm old enough to remember Pong, and Donkey Kong was relatively fresh but this place had a draw on me. It had clunky steel games of baseball and bowling and other dated games of minor skill. I'll never forget this one stunning contraption. It had two metal pegs that acted like handles that you grab with each bare hand. An electrical current passed through your arms. The object was to hold on as long as you could. Pretty simple. The power increased as long as you held on. I remember a meter reading your skill ability or some other nonsense. This machine did nothing short of zapping kids with a little juice from a car battery. Very bizarre game in the happiest place on earth. I remember playing it maybe half a dozen times before getting towed away to the mess that was a celebration of wonderment? Forgive me but I've never understood the Disneyland fascination. But the game was a hoot. I do believe this was the first time I was ever electrocuted on purpose. The second would be testing the strength of an electric fence. Surprisingly strong.