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I can't say that we've ever woken up at 5:30 in the morning on New Year's Day before… until this year, when we decided to attend the Rose Bowl Parade's blossoming 125th anniversary in Pasadena, California! On top of that, we got to watch the first sunrise of 2014 and there's something especially special about that:

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Considering the fact that hundreds of thousands of people gather on Colorado Boulevard to watch the 45 rose and posy covered floats glide down the 5.5 mile route at 2.5 miles per hour, Drew and I decided to get creative with our parking/transportation choices. So, we drove to the Heritage Square Station along the Metro's Gold Line (any of them work) and got off at Allen Station. We then walked West towards the start of the parade and scored some epic people watching along the way:

Some people traveled by bike:

Some people traveled by horse drawn bike... with a doll house on their head?:

Thousands of people camped out the night before, arriving in the afternoon on New Year's Eve, bringing their air mattresses, fire pits, grills, heat lamps and lounge chairs for maximum comfort:

IMPORTANT: Do not drive down Colorado Boulevard on NYE unless you want your car to be blasted with marshmallow and whipped cream filled corn tortillas! Apparently, this is how the children entertain themselves, evidence below:

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There was also confetti mixed in with all the scattered tortillas, environmentally friendly confetti if I might add:

Cotton candy at 8am anyone?:

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To signify the start of the parade, the crowd watched in awe as the U.S Air Force's Thunderbirds completed their annual, unforgettable fly over. This very well could have been Drew's favorite part of the entire event:

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It was 8:45 when the floats made their way down to where we were sitting/ standing. I found a cozy spot with a great view on top of one of those phone booth things (I was surprised those still existed too!):

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Let the parade begin! First up was the 125th anniversary float displaying this year's theme, "Dreams come true."

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Followed by the safari float, oh my!:

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The Honda float was seriously larger than life:

I especially loved the Sierra Madre float, this fish was covered in flowers from his tail all the way up to his tongue, roof of the mouth included!:

The Glendale wilderness float. Somehow a bear made out of flowers is just not scary at all:

We loved how the puppies had smile dimples made out of pink carnations:

The Trader Joe's float made cheese out of flowers, complete with a pickle on the side!:

Almost as stunning as the floats were the frilly and sparkly costumes:

And the flowers we all just exquisite, you could even smell their sweetness as the floats rode by:

PS - For some added fun, you can get up close and personal with the floats pre-parade and even volunteer to help decorate them, details here! And for some post-parade fun, you can visit these master pieces displayed on Sierra Madre and Washington Boulevards for just $10, info here.

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