The parade in San Francisco is the biggest of its kind outside of China, which is pretty incredible. It's also incredible that I've lived within walking distance of the parade for 8 years without ever going to see it. This year - the year of the Horse - had to be my year.
Dave and I had friends in town that weekend, so we invited them along, and my friends Trish and Brandon joined us as well. We were warned that the parade went on for a long time, so we headed out later in the evening and walked down to the end of the parade route, which is not far from my apartment. We arrived right as the parade was entering our viewing area, so we posted up and craned our necks to see. Thankfully I'm married to a tall guy with a nice camera and advanced photography skills, so we got some decent shots from our less-than-ideal vantage spot:
The verdict: I'm glad I finally saw this parade, but it was very long - too long for how interesting it was. It might have been nice to see the parade earlier in its route during the daylight, maybe near Union Square, or to buy one of the tickets for bleacher seats, as standing was really tiring after awhile. I would definitely recommend seeing it at least once if you live in SF - but I cannot say I will go see it again anytime in the near future.