We watched the Rose Parade on tv and the floats looked great. You get to see people on the floats and the movement. It made me want to see them even more in person. In person you get to see the little details that make up the float. You can spend as much time looking at a float as you want. Closing time is my favorite part of the day as most of the people have left and you can smell the scents of the flowers best.
The driver sits behind this hidden door.
The panda playing with the turtle is really cute!
I stopped at the Palomar Mountain water truck to refill my water bottle twice. Water taste great! Walking around is thirsty work!
Lots of people viewing the floats.
It was tiring walking up to each float and checking out all the various flowers used to construct the floats but worth it. Cathy of mmm-yso!!! worked on the floats and documented their construction as well as visited them afterwards. Next year I’m gonna leave the sweatshirt behind and wear shorts as it was really warm.
Tournament of Rose Post Parade
Sierra Madre Blvd. & E. Washington Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
This day sure went by lightning fast! Each float is just such a treat to behold and admire. Love starting our year off with the Rose Parade floats!
Time flies when you are having fun! I have to post about our food adventures at Golden Dragon, Gus’s BBQ, and Fosselman’s. 🙂
Great post; so glad to see someone ‘from here’ went to the Post Parade (and it is so good to know you do appreciate my postings). Looking at the photos, could tell from the position of the sun/shadows that you were there late in the day-we were there when it started. I think the walking slowly for a few miles while looking at all the float designs and details to start the New Year is a fun thing to do, you know, instead of jumping in the ocean or hiking up a mountain…
You are a great detective! We like to close out the day looking at floats. Then we have dinner nearby. I like seeing how things are made so I look forward to your float updates throughout the year. Walking around floats is much more appealing than diving into freezing cold ocean water.
I haven’t been in so many years. So they still use real flowers ? For everything? They never had free drinking water from a truck tank when I went as a kid 🙂 You should do a food post of what you ate before/after like Cathy –
They are only allowed to use flowers, seeds, and stuff from plants like tree bark. You should visit again! The free water was great! I am planning on posting about my lunch, dinner, and dessert that day.
I’ll add: organic materials must cover every visible part of each float. It must be or have been alive- dry flower petals, rice, beans, peas, bark, straw, coconut shavings…so many dry materials. No sand ( a mineral) but a blend of ground spices that looks like sand. Rocks are a blend of black and white rice. Certain float tree bark is made with dead redwood bark, which is about six layers thick; those are individually peeled apart and only one layer is glued onto the float(need the float not weighed down). The weekends before Christmas are ‘dry’ or ‘detail’ decorating, fresh flowers arrive starting December 27…water vials are filled on the 26th and details are finished. Some flowers don’t need water (button mums, carnations) and are glued on or supported with bamboo skewers. Roses, iris and other delicate flowers are in water vials; thousands. I’ve tried to explain in my posts without being too wordy.
i have to put this on my to-do list! it sounds so cool after reading cathy’s and your post! i didn’t really know anything about it other than name before this!
You should go next year! The scent of the flowers is amazing!