We went camping this weekend to celebrate Blaine's 6th birthday and watch the solar eclipse. The original plan had been to go to the Redwoods on the California coast, but 36 hours before the eclipse, the forecasts were calling for heavy clouds with a 50% chance of rain along the coast. So Saturday morning, we made a quick change of plans and headed to the Sierras along the 80.
We camped at Martis Creek lake, a pretty little artificial lake near the Truckee airport.
Here's Anne, looking good before her encounter with nature.
This cute little bird and his partner made their nest in this dead tree right next to our camp site. (What is it, Peter? (Update: A mountain bluebird!))
In the morning before the eclipse we hiked along the Martis Creek.
William and Amy found this pretty Ceanothus Silkworm Moth outside the bathrooms. He was rather defensive---fluttering his wings and waving his front legs at us when we got close. (The next morning we found bits and pieces of him around the bathroom entrance. That fat body made a nice meal for some bird.)
When eclipse time got close clouds were moving in, so we bailed on our back up plan to go to beautiful Stampede Reservoir, and instead drove eastward along the 80 to escape from the clouds. Ironically, we hear from our neighbors that the expected clouds and rain along the coast never materialized.
With the eclipse starting we pulled off the freeway in Fernley, Nevada and found this not-so-beautiful abandoned parking lot to watch the beginning of the eclipse.
A family portrait with a pinhole view of the beginning of the eclipse.
The parking lot was simply too hot to stay in for long, so we got in the car and drove a quarter of a mile more until we found a small park. One of the most awesome things about the eclipse is what it does to all the shadows.
We just happened to run into another homeschooling family at the park and we shared our glasses with them. William made a friend with a kid named Alex and they spent the next half hour watching the eclipse together.
Finally, we reached the maximum coverage when the ring appeared. This is me holding up a paper with a normal circular hole in it.
Without a filter, my camera couldn't get a direct shot of the eclipse, but check out the lens flare in this image.
The holes in the shadows turned to doughnuts as well. Click on the picture to see it bigger.
The best picture I could take with my camera through the eclipse glasses.
It's difficult to describe how exhilarating it was to watch the eclipse. Seeing the ring was awesome. And the darkening of the sky and the strange shadows led to a very magical, mystical atmosphere. Blaine enjoying the eclipse. Shortly after this, we sang happy birthday to Blaine and ate cookies and milk with the people we met at the park. It was awesome.
On the way back to Truckee from Fernley, Anne shows off the results of a face plant into a rock at our camp site, a fall from the slide at the park, and Oreos.
We're already planning our next eclipse experience---a total solar eclipse in 2017!
