Totality In Austin!

Seven-ish years ago, we trekked from Virginia to South Carolina, so we could be in the path of totality of a solar eclipse.  It turned out to be a pretty epic and memorable experience and I've been daydreaming about the next one for quite a while.  About a year ago, we realized that the "next one" was coming up in 2024 and we picked a location and started making plans.  We reserved our hotel, bought plane tix, purchased our eclipse glasses, and rented a car 9-12 months in advance, so we would be ready to go to Austin to see it and wouldn't get fleeced by last minute pricing.  

Even with all of our prep work though, we  had heard all sorts of nightmare stories about the expected crowds in Texas and how people's rental cars were getting canceled and how traffic would be horrible, plus it was supposed to be super cloudy, so we were pretty nervous and debated driving  instead, so we could switch direction if needed. 

But, in the end, we stuck with our plan and  our only hiccups of the whole trip were getting to Austin.   It snowed the morning we were leaving which delayed our flight out of SLC, which caused us to miss our connection in Vegas.  Glen caught a stand-by shortly after arriving, but Ellie and I were stuck for hours in the Vegas airport until our rescheduled flight that evening.   In case you weren't aware, the Vegas airport is pretty much an armpit of an airport.    It's dark (no natural light), full of casinos, dirty, and so overpriced it should be considered illegal to charge as much as they do.   

These nuts were just one example of the outrageous prices.   The Chex mix was $13.99 in Vegas.  The same size bag in the Austin airport cost $5.99.   In a regular grocery store, it probably would have cost $3.99.    I stubbornly refused to give them my money and in the future will try to avoid scheduling flights that go through Vegas, because it's a dumpity dump dump dump.   

Once we got to Austin, though, we've had no issues.  We hear a lot of people canceled their trips here once they saw the cloudy weather forecast, which meant we got our car rental no problem, the hotel is only half full, and the traffic wasn't bad at all. 

AND BEST OF ALL...

In what can only be described as divine intervention....

the clouds parted right at the moment of totality and we got the full amazingly spectacular experience we'd been hoping for!   

We honestly thought the clouds made for a cool natural filter for the photos and added some depth.   It was everything we'd hoped it would be!  


We also ate lots of good food, including....

Bird Bird Biscuit, which has amazing gluten free biscuits...

Torchy's, which is our favorite taco place of all time...

And Hop Daddy's, which had amazing gluten free buns, the best sweet potato fries around, and a burger I actually enjoyed, instead of just tolerating...

We also went on a couple good walks at Lady Bird Lake (something Cami loved to do when she lived there)...

And we saw some amazing wildflowers along the way, that made me smile...

I would call it a good trip overall, but also exhausting.   We left for Texas already pretty tired after hosting the boys  for a few days.    We had hoped that our time in Texas would be more restful, but between our very long day getting here, our too-small beds, and an extremely early morning to fly back home, we got home even more exhausted than when we left.  Coming home to a disaster area of a house did not help matters either. 

Exhaustion aside, we are already scheming a way for us to see another total eclipse.  The next one in the USA isn't for another 21 years, so we're thinking maybe Spain or Australia.... 😏

I guess you can call us official umbraphiles now.   😏

Not Total Eclipse of the Sun

Remember 6ish years ago when we trekked to South Carolina to be in the path of totality for the solar eclipse of 2017?   That experience was kind of amazing and I've been so obsessed with the recreating that experience, that I already have plane tickets and a hotel room reserved for Austin, Texas for the full solar eclipse of April 2024. 

But somehow, even with that obsession going on,  we missed the memo that we had an annular solar eclipse right here in Utah on October 14th.  

We had too much going on (a long story I'll share soon enough) to drive the mere couple of hours to the path of totality, but we donned our eclipse glasses (which I'd also bought for April 2024) and took our normal Saturday morning walk with regular stops to check the progress of the eclipse. 

Annular means it was a "ring of fire" eclipse and it was only 80ish% here at home, but it was still enough to get the cool eclipse shadows and for it to feel dark and cold as peak time approached.  

We trekked to the local park and I literally asked anyone who passed us if they wanted to peek through my glasses.  I think more than a few people thought I was nerdy and weird, but pretty much everyone peeked anyway, so I kept embracing the nerdiness.   I also woke Spencer up and pretty much demanded that he grab some of our glasses and head outside.  Spencer definitely thought I was being obnoxious, which I probably was.  But he saw it and I felt like I did my Mom duty, so I'm calling it a win.   

All in all, a cool experience that made me extra excited for April!     Wanna meet us Austin?   Give me a ring and let's make it happen!

Solar Eclipse!

  For the most part, I'm pretty sedate and like to keep life pretty routine. However, I guess you could  also say that I have a bit of an adventurous streak as well.  So when I heard about the total solar eclipse that was coming up, I decided that we needed to be there to see it in person.    Never mind that the path of totality was 9-hours from home.   It was excited enough about it that  I was willing to do it by myself even if Glen couldn't take the time off of work.   

So I did the research, picked a cute little town in the path of totality, ordered our glasses, and reserved a hotel.   In the end, Glen bent over backwards to take the day off and on Sunday, August 20th, we embarked on our ecliptic journey to Greenville, South Carolina!  

The kids had never been to South Carolina, so we had to stop at the sign and document the occasion.  It was Emma's 49th, and Adam's and Ellie's 47th state! 

 

Though we'd planned our trip without talking to anyone, at the last minute we found that two members of our ward (James and Reinbold families) were coming to the same small town we'd picked.   So we met up with them, picked a local park away from the crowds in Greenville, and made it into an eclipse viewing party in Liberty, SC! 

  

We put on our eclipse glasses (which I'd thankfully ordered more than a month in advance) and watched  with awe for the hour or so leading up to totality...

Some people we met shared their eclipse snacks with us.  :) 

It was such a cool experience to see the sun being covered (we put our eclipse glasses over the camera lens to take this picture)...

and watch as even the shadows became crescent shaped...

We got a little nervous with some minor clouds that came and went....

But the sky was clear as can be when the moment of totality came.

My words won't really be able to describe what it was like in those last few minutes leading up to totality and the 2-1/2 minute while the sky was dark, but suffice it to say, it was an amazing experience that we will never forget.   The sunset glow of the sky in the middle of the afternoon, the crickets chirping, the hawk that sailed over our heads, and that absolutely indescribable beauty of seeing the sun's corona around the shadow of the moon.   Wow, wow, wow.  God is real.  There is no other explanation for that kind of perfection.   I literally had goosebumps thinking of how for a brief couple of minutes, how the world had laid aside their differences to embrace the beauty of  heaven. 

It was amazing how quickly the sky lit back up the second totality was over.  Even a sliver of the sun is enough to light the sky...a powerful analogy for the power of doing good in an ever increasingly dark world.    

Afterward, we went into the town of Greenville and explored that charming little southern town!  

It's a cute place with a lot of personality.

We loved the city park...

which was like a little piece of the country right in the middle of the town. 

It was well-worth the long drive to be a part of and I have to admit that I'm already excited for the next American eclipse in 2024.  

Ohio...here we come! 

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