Who will the 2013 Rose Parade Grand Marshal be? Only 6 days to guess!

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, 2010

Oh, the Places You’ll Go—and at lightning speed this year.  Sally Bixby, president of the 2013 Tournament of Roses, is set to announce her choice for Grand Marshal on Wednesday, April 24, 2012 at Tournament House in Pasadena.  

Paula Deen, 2011

Since this announcement usually takes place in the fall, I was astonished to find a media release from TOR publicists Hill & Knowlton in my inbox.  With just six days between now and the announcement next Wednesday morning, there isn’t much time for readers to submit their guesses.

So get on the ball, and email lbmonteros@yahoo.com or comment below with your ideas.  Here are some hints (though in the past, hints haven’t always helped): 

• The theme is “Oh, the Places You’ll Go”
•  President Sally Bixby is only the second woman to lead the Tournament
•  Bixby is also a registered nurse, the  first to assume the TOR presidency
•  The official poster has letters that are reminiscent of Dr. Seuss and depicts a child with a bindle walking a rainbow path to rainbow hills

J.R. Martinez, 2012

Here are some of my ideas:

• With the pink slip to the space shuttle Endeavor handed over to the California Science Center in Los Angeles last October, and due to arrive later this year, the crew on its last flight would be inspired.  After all, they did go places few humans have been.
• Another thought is that it might be a person or group in the line of nursing.  Bixby’s colleagues are entering the first float devoted to the nursing profession in honor of her service.  You can read about it in the article “Honoring Nurses” that appeared in this column.
• With the Jet Propulsion Laboratory nestled in the northernmost corner of Pasadena, and the Mars Science Laboratory due to land in a few months, the team that brought it all together might not be too far-fetched. 
• A reader last year thought a good choice for the 2012 Grand Marshal would be Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly.  Not a bad idea for this year, either.  The couple presents the idea of a journey both actually—going into space—and metaphorically—recovering from a life-threatening attack.

So who's it going to be?  Let me know what you think!

And don't forget to check out my Tournament of Roses column on Examiner.com!