Solar Eclipse

Since we were so close to the path of totality during the solar eclipse on August 21, we decided to drive north a bit to see it. Actually, we were almost scared off from our plans given the high expectations of traffic jams along the freeway. After a bit of research, we discovered the route to Idaho that we had planned to take would be the most direct route for the second largest population group within the United States. So, we adjusted our plans to drive along a bit further, but much less crowded route through Wyoming instead. We left at about 4:40 in the morning to avoid traffic as much as possible and made excellent time to Palisades Reservoir. We arrived tired, but in good shape, a couple hours before things started.

Since we had some time, Nate took a nap while I took Austin on a walk out to the water and around the area. The shores of the lake were swampy, but it was still a very scenic area.

After visiting the lake, we headed away from the lake walking along a dirt road. A short ways up it we noticed a large nest built up on a platform attached to a utility pole. A couple birds of prey were circling nearby, and a young bird peeked over the edge of the nest. Walking around the nest reveled there were actually two young birds. It turns out these were ospreys, and we spent a good while watching them and taking pictures. Eventually Nate woke up from his nap and joined us too.

After that we headed back, since the eclipse was just starting. We had fun watching the moon slowly roll over the sun until it was entirely covered. The less exciting part was using the smelly restroom...with the huge influx of people at the spot, there wasn't even any toilet paper left.

It was pretty crazy to observe the drop in temperature as the sun gradually disappeared. It was also wild to see how dark it became as the eclipse progressed into totality. We were ecstatic that we actually saw the shadow bands we had learned about before going! They appeared clearly on the sheet we had brought with us and laid out on the ground for that purpose just prior to and just after the totality, but the direction the band appeared to move it changed in between.

Our videos captured some of it, but it was even more pronounced in reality.

The totality itself was incredible to experience. We were so glad that we went to see it!

We were also incredibly glad that our trip home was quite smooth. With the exception of the first mile of the trip right as we left the lake, we had normal traffic speeds for the rest of our trip until we finally got back onto I-15 around Willard. But even that didn't last long, since we got off again soon and took back roads home. We arrived before dinner time. It was way better than the 8-11 hour drive we heard many had coming back along I-15 from Idaho. Having what is normally a 2-3 hour drive take that long sounded pretty miserable to us, and we were grateful we had taken a different route!