Chasing the Eclipse

 4/3

We took Abby into the deep snow of Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked up to Nymph, Dream, and Emerald lakes. Lots of snow! And of course the lakes were frozen We then took her to the Stanley Hotel.

4/4

Today we started our journey to search out totality for the total eclipse occuring on April 8th. We originally were going to take Gunther to roadtrip to Texas and back, but then Elisha was named the Employee of the Year for Eleven, and they awarded her (and me) with an all expenses paid trip to Eleven's property in France. So we decided to rent a car one way from Boulder to Houston, then fly to Europe and then fly back to Denver. It turned out being a good idea, bc we drove A LOT and the car we got (Toyota Corolla) got amazing gas mileage (nearly 50 mpg) and had all these fancy technologies to make driving easy (plus it had AC, which Gunther does not!). 

Mom drove us down to the rental car agency in Boulder and then we continued on to Colorado Springs. We showed Abby Pikes Peak and then did a quick tour of the Olympic Training Center. We then drove into New Mexico to Roswell and stayed at a hotel using points.

4/5

We explored downtown Roswell. We visited a few of the curio shops, looking for postcards for Abby, then went to breakfast at McDonald's, which was constructed as a spaceship. We visited the UFO museum to learn all about the Roswell crash as well as other extraterrestrial activity and events. We had to admit, it was pretty convincing. We then visited a really cool black light art alien/space exhibit. 

After spending time in Roswell, we drove over a pass through Ruidoso to White Sands National Park. We hiked out into the pure white dunes made of soft sand. We took several small hikes from the sandy loop road in the park. We then hiked out at sunset for a truly magnificent sunset over the dune field. Beautiful pink and orange clouds, with dark mountains as the backdrop, and then the soft white dunes.

After sunset, we then drove over another pass through Cloudcroft to a town not far from Carlsbad, where we stayed in a cheap hotel.

4/6

We got up really early and drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park to try to get a last minute guided tour ticket to a part of the cave that the general public is not allowed on their own. But, we had no luck. Since we were there many hours before our time-entry reservation to enter the main cavern, we drove to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas.  We did a hike in the national park to a cool little cabin. The scenery was really nice, which very steep mountains and deserty flora, but it was crazy windy. While we were driving through Carlsbad Caverns NP, we saw a large herd of non-native Barbary sheep (native to North Africa).

Back at Carlsbad Caverns NP, we did the natural entrance hike to go deep into the bowels of the earth. It was really cool and ket going down and down and down. Eventually we met up with the main loop, which circled around the ENORMOUS main rooms of the cavern. The stalagmites and stalactites were so cool and very ornate. It was just spectacular! To leave the cave, we rode the elevator that most people enter (and leave) the cavern from. The elevator descends 754 feet from the ground level.

We went to a pizza buffet in Carlsbad to get some....salad, believe it or not. We'd been eating so much fast food that we craved a salad, and this cheap pizza buffet also had a salad bar. We then drove to Andrews, Texas where we stayed in a cheap hotel.

4/7  T-minus 1 day until the eclipse! 

We spent the morning in the hotel looking at weather models and trying to figure out where the best place to see the eclipse in a cloudless sky would be. Our original plan had been Southern Texas and then stay with Linnah in Austin or watch it near Dallas and stay with Elisha's friend Hannah. However, weather models indicated that Northern Texas would have a better chance of clear skies, but Arkansas would be the best bet. A giant storm was moving in and the timing was going to be tricky as to when the clouds built compared to when the eclipse happened. So we drove all the way up to DeKalb, Tx. On the waay, we passed through the outskirts of Dallas and saw Hannah and her daughter and boyfriend at a park for quick bit. 

The flowers on the drive in Texas along the highways were magnificent! We got to our campsite in DeKalb that we had pre-booked. It was on a horse training/competition ranch. We met some other eclipsers, then set up our tent and went to bed.

4/8 Eclipse Day!

We did some last minute weather checking and decided to head to Caddo Gap, Arkansas. It was dark and cloudy in DeKalb--but predicted to burn off; however a storm from the gulf was predicted to arrive very close to eclipse time, and we didn't want to risk it. When we got to Caddo Gap, it was clear skies and everyone was in a cheery mood, but updated forecasts made us feel even more comfortable if we drove just a bit more north up to Royal, Arkansas. 

We pulled off in a little space where there was one other guy with a fancy photography set-up and a cool app that announced out-loud the difference phases of the eclipse. 

As the eclipse progressed, it got darker and darker. Shortly before totality, these strange waves ran across the ground (I can't remember the name). Then totality hit, and it was pretty dark! We could then take off our eclipse glasses and look straight at the sun. It was surreal. The lit up corona around the moon shone bright like a jewel in the dark sky, and the moon itself was the blackest black. The sky was so dark that stars were out! I could look at it forever! It was just so cool. The totality lasted for 4 minutes. When it was occurring, the birds went quiet and the crickets got louder.

After the eclipse, we had another big decision to make. We needed to get to Houston for our flight to France by the next afternoon. We wanted to go through Dallas so that we could stay with Hannah, but nasty, severe weather was predicted with "damaging winds, softball sized hail, and tornado potential" in a huge part of Texas for 2 days, including Dallas. And of course we had declined the extra insurance on the rental car. Houston was outside of this severe weather zone, so we decided to go straight to Houston. We did drive through a pretty good hail storm, but otherwise it was fine. We stayed at a hotel in the vicinity of the airport.

A great eclipse is in Egypt in 2027. See you there!!