Christmas parade with a seaside twist...

Tonight I went to our city's Christmas parade for the first time. A friend of mine was having a Christmas/parade party, so a group of us went down to 2nd Street to watch the parade. Though the parade was really long (2 hours!), it was a good time. I think half of the city was there to enjoy the festivities, as the crowds were several rows deep down the entire parade route. (I live in a city of about 420,000)

Because our city is right on the ocean--Long Beach is the second busiest port in the US!--the parade had an ocean theme. It was fun to see the creativity of the many floats... mixing the ocean theme with the Christmas theme. Below are a few shots of the parade...

Aquarium of the Pacific float

California State University Long Beach

the Christmas trees from the waterways

(Los Angeles County Parks & Rec - voted best in the US!!)

Christmasy high school marching band

...and another (Lakewood High School)

I just love this one...

...under the sea!...

this was my FAVORITE... lobster people!!! : )

...and this is a sight you don't see every day--

the Queen Mary sailing down 2nd Street!

And, here in California, Santa arrives on top of a firetruck!

And so ends the parade ... (after two hours!!)

and so officially begins the Christmas season in Long Beach!