Glimpses of Royalty and Cowboy Duds

I went to the Stampede Parade today. I figured it would probably be about the only part of the Stampede that I actually get to see due to lack of money for such things and work and everything else. But ya. I joined my friends Emily and Esther and a couple other thousands of people at the very early hour of 6 am in the hopes of getting a good seat for the parade. Actually there weren't thousands of people at 6 am but there probably were by the time the parade actually started. Anyway. So this year was a bit of a special year for the Stampede as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to kick off the Parade and the Stampede with a drive by about half an hour or 45 minutes before the parade actually started. Hence being downtown at 6 am. Craziness. But anyway. We kept ourselves occupied with Timmies for breakfast and various games spoken in somewhat overdone accents. It was a good time. And in general I for one just enjoyed the atmosphere and people watching. Out of nowhere a couple jets roared overhead and then the sirens started blaring and we waited with anticipation with our cameras ready. And then in one split moment Will and Kate drove by waving to the cheering crowds and escorted by at least a half dozen or so members of the police force. (Kate waved directly at me; I would swear it!) Just kidding. But ya. Kate was the only one I saw since Will was on the other side and it was a car with a roof (as opposed to a convertible/ other car with the top down). And then after about another half hour or so of waiting, the pre parade entertainment started. It wasn't too bad but not exceptionally great either (in my opinion). And then my camera died half way through the pre parade stuffs and I couldn't find a pair of batteries that worked....Dang....Then finally the rest of the parade came. There were so many different floats and bands represented. Some of the floats were pretty cool. My personal favorite was the Chinese float, mostly because it had a pretty epic dragon. :) Toward the end though, it started to feel longer than it was. Apparently though the Stampede Parade is the second longest parade in North America and this year it lasted for about 2 hours and shut down about half of downtown for almost the entire morning. Surprisingly, when the parade was over and done, things got cleared up really quickly and fairly well organized. (We were somewhere near the end of the parade route I think though). But ya. It was fun. And it's not everyday one sees royalty even just for a brief moment right? So I guess it was worth getting up at 5 am for.