Musings from the Millers: Expedition to the Rose Parade

Each float made for the parade has to conform to certain regulations in the areas of height, width, length and thematic design and ENTIRE surface must be covered using a variety of flowers, seeds, bark, leaves and other natural materials Most of the floats are controlled with internal, computer-driven hydraulics and are entered in the parade on behalf of a corporation, city, or organization. This is what I love about the Rose parade - creative and nothing too wacky - and the flowers, fruits, and vegetables are so beautiful! To maximize one's parade experience - you really have to go view the floats before the parade or after - because there is no way to appreciate all the work while they are whizzing past you! We also realized after getting home and seeing some repeat on the tv that from our vantage point on the street we missed some things on top of the floats - like seeing inside the rose bowl on one, and jumping dogs on another! It was hard to narrow down which photos to share.....(click on the images to see them in a large size for more detail - may not work on every one though)

Here is our viewing "group" and then some! This is what it looked like all along the parade route - though there are areas with grandstands where people paid from $50 a seat into the hundreds!

The parade Grand Marshal - Paula Deen

Go Wisconsin Badgers!

Hail Horned Frogs!

I think this was my favorite floats because of all the cool things going on.......well and I love the fair.....I could crop in on any of the details and it is stunning.......

This is the front of the float...."A State Fair to Remember"

......close up.......

.......and the second half of the float from the dunk tank and not even to the back!

One of my other favorite floats was the Trader Joe's Exploring Planet Dinner float.....

......after the float passed.....notice some of it is folded down - this was because the overpass for the freeway was before our spot and near the end so sometimes the floats weren't extended up all the way......