San Diego Zoo float “Friendship Across the Earth” wins top award in Rose Parade:

In a world where the only thing fluffier than the giant pandas on the San Diego Zoo float was the ego of the parade judges, the 136th Rose Parade turned into a floral comedy show. The zoo’s float, aptly titled “Friendship Across the Earth,” didn’t just win; it waltzed off with the Sweepstakes Award for being the “most beautiful entry” for two consecutive years. It’s like the parade was a beauty pageant, and the San Diego Zoo float was Miss Congeniality, sash and all.

This year, the float was an elaborate homage to the zoo’s new panda pals, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, who are basically the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of the panda world, having arrived from China in August. They were depicted lounging in a sea of black bamboo, looking as if they were saying, “Oh, this old thing? We just threw it together with some flowers and bamboo.”

The parade route was less of a road and more like a red carpet for these floral celebrities. The float was so captivating, it probably made other entries question their life choices. “Why didn’t we think of pandas?” you could almost hear them whisper in envy.

Paul A. Baribault, the big cheese at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, was over the moon, or perhaps more accurately, over the bamboo. He boasted that these pandas have a special talent for uniting people, much like how a really good burrito brings together folks at a food festival.

So, as Pasadena woke up to the new year, the San Diego Zoo’s float didn’t just win an award; it won hearts, laughter, and perhaps a spot in the “Hall of Floats” if such a thing existed. In the grand parade of life, where some floats are just trying to get by, the San Diego Zoo’s entry was the one doing a victory lap, waving with its bamboo, and winking at the crowd, all saying, “We’re the champs, and we know it.”