Total Solar Eclipse!

So, in case you didn't know, today a Total Solar Eclipse crossed the United States! We went up to Rexburg, Idaho to see the cosmic wonder and it was amazing. We had a great time with each other and feel so fortunate to have been able to see the totality with the kids and my parents. Words and photos don't do it justice, but we'll post a few anyway. ;) You gotta go see one, you just owe it to yourself to see it before you die. We've got it checked off our bucket list now, but we're going to go to the next one in 2024 anyway. (Patrice or Grant, one of you guys better still be living in Texas in 7 years!) It was awesome and totally worth the lack of sleep (camping with Daniel) and the 8.5 hour drive home in traffic (though the traffic was a bit hard to bear...) But we made it home alive, yay!

So, this is how it went down: Yesterday we had church from 9-noon. I didn't do any packing before, though I did buy things and have a little bit of stuff gathered. At church, Daniel was being a big loud in Sunday school. Corey was going to take him out but I said I would. My friend and neighbor Elasha was in the hall. We chit-chatted, somehow the eclipse came up, she said she wished they had planned it better so they could go see it, I told her to come where we were going. From what Corey had said about the place where they had camped in Ashton, I was sure it would be fine. I had also told my parents to come. Not the best of manners on my part, but I didn't have their number to ask. If they were irritated or annoyed at another tent and 2 extra cars around, I was again sure it was nothing a little cash bribe/donation couldn't help sooth over. So I invited them to come where we were going and she said she might take us up on it. Corey said he would stay home with Owen and Natalie, who wouldn't understand what was going on, to provide room for the high school kids, who only that morning were still adamant that they didn't want to miss the first day of school. They changed their minds after talking to friends at church who were skipping out on the first day to see the eclipse. One of them had talked to the school counselor who supposedly gave the okay, saying that half of the school was going to be gone. Even though Ethan had already driven up to Idaho Falls and back only the day before, he didn't want to risk going to school if it was a waste of a day and he'd end up wishing he'd gone to see the eclipse. He had to decide quickly cause I wanted to head out and only had room for one more in the van... Mel wanted to go now too. Joseph wasn't sure he wanted to drive though. Lucky for everyone, Eth came with me, and the neighbors did decide to come, and they had room for two more, so Joseph and Mel drove up with them. We left around 3. It was a quick and painless drive up. Traffic was a little heavy but moved along at freeway speed the whole way. We filled up on gas again in Blackfoot and then made it to Ashton in time for dinner - they had a bbq going. which did make me feel bad as I told them there were another 12 people coming. My vegan food plans for the trip (carrots, pb&j sandwiches and walnuts and raisins) wouldn't be able to tempt my kids away from the hamburger option now available. I was glad we brought money to donate to the cause.

They had plenty of food, and they said no problem about inviting more people, they were grateful to be able to share their blessings. Plus with all the hype for the locals to be prepared for power outages and gas and food shortages, they were well prepared to survive for a few days. It was a beautiful area!

That's not our tent or truck, I was just admiring the sunset. I was nervous about the cloud coverage, thinking it might mess up the eclipse the next day. But Micah said there were always clouds in the east at night and it would be clear in the morning.

And he was right. It even cleared up that night and we were able to see so many stars. It got pretty chilly once the sun went down. I was kicking myself that I had only brought flip flops. Luckily I had a jacket, though I forgot one for Daniel! Our host were very kind and he kids were all in the warm basement playing until it was time for bed. Daniel meeting a new friend.

Abi was really excited that I was going to sleep in the tent with them. Daniel fell asleep pretty quickly and it was wonderful snuggling with my baby. We kept each other warm. We slept well for most of the night. Then Daniel woke up. I thought it looked like it was getting light through the tent walls. I tried to feed Daniel his bottle, but the milk was so cold that it made him wide awake. He decided it was morning time and was being cute and being funny. It was then that I saw the clock. 4:30 a.m. Doh. The light I thought I saw was a street light that was on. I held the cold bottle next to my skin to try and warm it up, cause I didn't want to try to find my way inside the house for warm water and if I wanted Daniel to go back to bed I was going to need a warmer bottle. Daniel was cute until 5, at which time he decided to be mad. So he and I moved into the car. I tried to keep him covered in blankets as he trashed and fussed. I kept the bottle next to my skin to try and warm it up, but each time I tried to offer it to him he was pretty ticked off. He finally gave up at 5:30 and fell back asleep on me as we lay on the back bench in the van. I woke up at 7:30. My parents were packed and taking off to find a spot for the eclipse. We didn't now how bad traffic would be, so they wanted to play it safe. I asked her to wake up my kids, cause I didn't want the ticking time bomb on me to wake up yet. The kids didn't get out of the tent. I called their phones... no answer. Abi finally came to my rescue, she kept Daniel asleep and warm in the car and I started to try and load up the van and pack up the tent. They ate breakfast while I ate my dried fruit and nuts and loaded up. The car was pretty crowded, since I now had to pack in the tent and sleeping bags and things that Corey had brought up in his car on Friday with our already full car (tried to be prepared for the worst with a 4 person 72 hour kit and a 5 gallon thing of gas. I finally fit it all in and we were on our way shortly after 9. Traffic was moving slowly into Ashton but was fine after that. We arrived in Rexburg and met up with my parents at an Albertson's parking lot. My dad had sun binoculars and a telescope set up. Ethan checking out the partial eclipse as it begins...

I put sunblock on everyone and we hid in cars' shadows.

There was a grassy area near by, but we didn't want the trees to get in the way.

My dad was prepared with solar glasses that the kids took turns using.

And they played a mean game where they could pull the glasses off of someone as they were looking up at the sun - not cool Mel! Apologize to Hyrum.

But then he would do it to her... and they all did it to each other. You couldn't see anyone coming cause the glasses are so dark. Below my mom steadied the binoculars and tried to help Joseph find the sun by seeing how the shadow of it fell on his face.

My mom also bought everyone some eclipse t-shirts that were for sale there at the parking lot. Lookin' good little D!

...with your messy face.

We opened the backs of the cars to make more shade -

They had "eclipse cupcakes" for sale inside Albertsons. So we got some of those to make the eclipse party complete.

They had to earn their eclipse cupcake by eating pb&j and a stalk of celery first

When the eclipse was half way, we went and saw the fun shadows that the light made through the trees.

A half hour until totality...

Elasha and one of her boys, we were grateful to be able to share the experience with her and her kids!

Joseph, how does the eclipse look? Are we almost at totality?

(he couldn't tell...) At 11:15 my alarm went off - "15 minute until Totality!" And then it started to get darker and the time was drawing nigh... All the locals started to emerge - the Arby's employees ready for the show.

I took a video of it, but I was focusing more on the sky and trying to soak in the present moment, so I wasn't caring much about what the kids were doing or saying. So not a great video, pretty dumb actually, thus I haven't uploaded it yet, might upload it sometime. But here is what a professional had to show of the totality~

Solar Eclipse in Totality from Josh Etheridge Films on Vimeo.

We saw the diamond ring and sun snakes all over the ground as the sun started to reappear. Then it was day time again and we left right after totality was over. We were in the cars and on the road at noon. We spent the next 5 hours in traffic as we and the rest of humanity made our way south. Idaho Falls was the closest destination for totality for 35.8 million Americans. That explains it!

We filled up the car in Blackfoot again cause after 4 hours in the car, Sophi had to use the bathroom. We kept inching south, reached Pocatello at 5. After that it finally picked up. The kids did good beign stuck in the car. Owen and Daniel played a fun game in the car, where they were both squealing these high silly screams, sometimes it was hard to tell them apart! After Pocatello and another 3.5 hours of driving we arrived home. We took turns being ahead and behind with the Morgansm but as chance would have it we both arrived at the same stop light at the same time as we got off the exit for home. 

They dropped Joseph off at work (he was late for his 7 pm shift). I didn't think of it until after but I should have taken Mel or Joseph with me so I could have another driver, then I could have taken a break! Oh well.

So that was that. My neighbor Richard took this picture - pretty amazing. It's a wedding ring from the Bridegroom, we are looking forward to the wedding supper when He returns!