Going to such a large and famous parade has never been so amazing. The 125th Rose Bowl Parade is one of the largest parades in California and it supports the Rose Bowl game. It is located in downtown Pasadena, CA, and is promoted by 54 floats and 20 marching bands.

Despite leaving late, my family and I were still able to catch the end of the parade and were most excited to check out the post parade float viewing area to get close-up looks at each float. But be aware that it is very difficult to park near the parade and we ended up walking five miles in order to view the floats.

Once we entered the float viewing area, I was literally amazed to see the floats nearly created only from flowers. Some floats were sponsored by large corporations like Honda, the Lutheran Church, SeaWorld, The Voice, Universal Studios, the K9 Foundation, Space Adventures, Animal Pet Adoption, and so many more.

My favorite float would be the one supporting the Dole Packaged Foods company. The whole thing was tropical and included animals like an elephant, a camel and a peacock. The float also won Sweepstakes for Most Beautiful Entry in the parade with Outstanding Floral Presentation and Design for the third year in a row.

Dole Packaged Foods called their float “Sunrise at the Oasis.” It was created by Fiesta Parade Floats and was No. 13 in Parade Entry.

One of my favorite things about the Dole float was the realistic animals. The peacock feathers contained purple, green and white roses on each feather, and the tigers had many small details on each stripe. I also loved how beautiful they crafted the trees, pottery and the animals because what I saw looked incredibly difficult to make.

During the time that I was in the float viewing area, I received more information from venders about the creation of the floats. The people that created the many floats took the entire month of December to build the float and often two or more days to place the flowers. To me, it was so incredible how detailed the decorations were and the engineering they put into it.

Each float is driven independently and so detailed. The craftsmanship devoted to each float was amazing. Many of the floats are created from flowers along with other materials. The Dole float also had moss, spices, dried cranberries, crushed beans and many ornamentals.

Additionally, I really enjoyed one called, “Everyone Grows!” by Miracle Gro. The creators took 10,000 orchids and 30,000 roses and made a greenhouse surrounded by trees with butterflies and birds.

I particularly enjoyed the “K-9” float because they were supporting the K-9 units of the Pasadena Police Department. The K9 float included a large German Shepherd made of leaves, kelp, seaweed, beans and seeds. I liked it because my mother’s favorite dog is the German Shepherd and we have a German Shepherd Husky mix named Leonidas.

Not only did I see a whole bunch of floats, but five F-18 jets made a Geico advertisement, using their smoky plane exhaust. The letters they created said, “Geico ? save money ? Geico,” all in less than five minutes.

Given all these wonderful floats, I wish we would have been there from the beginning instead of arriving near the end of the parade. Next year, I would leave very early so that we can arrive at the start of the parade and we know where we are going to park.

While I am not interested in arriving the night before and sleeping on the sidewalk to save a place along the route, I suggest arrive no later than 6 a.m. in order to park and walk to a good viewing area.

While I did not attend the Rose Bowl football game, No. 4 Michigan played against No. 5 Stanford. The Wolverines beat the Cardinal, 24-20.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @mattgarza2017. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather.

For more opinions, read the Jan. 7 article, Sophomore offers tips, suggestions for New Year’s resolutions.