If you missed NYT Part 1 or NYT Part 2, make sure to check those out! :D

The final two days in California were spent in Pasadena and San Diego. New Years Day we got up at 4:00 am and headed to the Rose Bowl Parade. The last time my mom, brother, and I went we just showed up and stood, waiting for the parade to come our way. It was gross, there was so many rude pushy people, and it smelled like hot dogs at 8 am. So this year, we got smart and bought tickets to sit and watch the show. It was so much more enjoyable and we met some very nice people who had a daughter marching in one of the bands. After watching float after float and many tow trucks pulling them, we headed off to look at the intricate detail of the floats. We arrived at the location only to find out the gates didn’t open for another two hours. So instead of leaving and coming back, we found a parking area the Boy Scouts were making money from, parked and all of us crashed in the car. 3 hours of sleep really took a toll on all of us. After taking a nap, we realized the parking lot had filled and a line was forming to get into the floats. We headed to stand there for another hour and half or so. Once we FINALLY got in, the floats were magnificent. They had people standing around with the different kind of flowers, seeds, grasses, etc.. that were used. It’s an experience I would highly recommend! After finishing with the floats, we headed back to San Diego. We crashed, Hard. The next morning we all woke up so much happier then the day before. We were singing in the car heading to the zoo. It was a beautiful day to see some animals. Once inside, we mapped out where to start and where to end. We saw everything from koalas to otters and giraffes to panda bears. Everyone decided it was more of a butt zoo then anything else. Almost every exhibit had one animal or another showing us their rear ends. it was quite a sight. My favorite animals though were the giraffes. THERE WAS A BABY GIRAFFE!!! It was sooooo adorable!! The other exhibit was the Panda Bear. We had to wait about an hour to get in to see them, and while one was asleep, with it’s butt to us, the other one was just lounging and in pure heaven eating the food they gave him. You’ll see in the images, how happy that panda was.

It was a great getaway trip and i’m so excited to start planning our next adventure!