The wonder that is an eclipse!

Hello!

I really do hate it when I don’t blog for a day, as it seems that so much happens and it’s so hard to catch up!  However, I will do my best.

The porcupine looks so soft and such a cute face!

Two real characters, the river otters

Beautiful swimmers!

Checking things out!

We were up about 7 am yesterday morning, and over for breakfast shortly thereafter.  It was hard to know which people were in our group, as there are many that we haven’t met yet, but eventually people started sorting themselves out and we met some very nice people.  Bill and Joe met Bob and Katy in Borneo (how many times have you ever heard that one?) when they travelled together on a birding expedition.  Brian worked with Katy at UCSD, and his wife Carol is an artist!  The only couple we were really concerned about was the couple who lives in London, Ontario and missed their plane in Detroit because of the long traffic line at the Windsor tunnel.  They had to wait two days to get another flight, and did manage to arrive yesterday evening, so all was well there. 

Trout in the stream!

Barn owl coming in for a landing

One of the two Harris' hawk

The Peregrin falcon was stunning!

The report on the High Desert Museum from Erica and Nason Hamlin was very positive, so we thought we would start the day there, as they opened at 9 am.  SO glad that we did, as we had the place to ourselves for about the first 45 minutes!  It’s a lovely, lovely place – a bit more “museum-y” than the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, but very well signed and presented information, and the animals we saw were wonderful!  There were two porcupines on perches – and they looked so soft!  A huge bobcat – amazing feet, and looking very well fed!  Then came the river otters … we could have stayed watching these two characters all day!  I’ve never seen animals more active – they had a lovely enclosure – a big and deep pond for swimming and then a lovely grassy area for play.  These two literally chased after each other, rolling over and over and over, with first one and then the other taking the lead.  As I say, we could have stayed there much longer, but did need to move on.

Incorporated into the museum grounds were the first saw mill and supporting farm house and buildings in the area.  Loved the big rooster that was strutting around!  Then came a large enclosure holding some of the native birds of prey.  In each case, the bird had either been hurt in some way – hit by cars, etc. or had been imprinted by humans, which means they can’t compete in the wild.  The enclosures, while not huge, were appropriately sized, and it was interesting seeing some of these birds that we normally don’t see up close in the wild. 

The main exhibition building contained a very touching but non-judgmental exhibition on the local Indian tribes and their interaction with White Men, and there was a really interesting display about the part played by Central Oregon in the pre- and post-WWII era.  As I say, everything was well done, and the museum is definitely worth a visit!

Lovely night to eat outdoors!

My crab Louie

R's spicy crab pasta

Donut holes!

By now, it was time for the daily raptor free-flight exhibition, and we all filed down to a large wood-chipped area for that.  (The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum has several raptor free-flight demonstrations during the day, but it is all standing – to be honest, as the show went on for a good half an hour, it was easier being able to sit down!)  We saw amazing birds – a barn owl, a Peregrine falcon, two Harris’ hawks, a Swainson’s hawk, and a turkey vulture (and I am forgetting at least one more!) They each came one at a time, and would swoop down over the crowd and come to rest on large snagged trees.  Fabulous demonstration!

After that, we headed to the museum’s small restaurant, where we had excellent hot dogs with onions for lunch.  Great way to spend a day, that’s for sure!  Back to the hotel around 2:30 pm for a rest before dinner. 

The entire group gathered together in the bar of the hotel at 4:30 pm.  This was, first of all, a chance for everyone to meet each other, so we went around the room for introductions and how we knew Katy and Bob.  Bill Alschuler, astronomer #4, did a brief presentation to explain solar eclipses (using an orange, an apple and a flashlight … and there were also two bananas somewhere in the confusing mix!) and what to expect during an eclipse, and we discussed the various times people were leaving.  Katy also passed out written directions to the selected site, with corrections made verbally by Bill, Joe and Tom, who had gone out there yesterday.  All in all, a tad confusing, so I left our set of directions in our room, and figured we would be fine having just been there on Saturday.  As it was, it seems everyone who wanted to be there made it safely!

Out about 6 pm to find Washington restaurant, where we had reservations for 6:30 pm.  Emmy, our GPS guided us to within about 100 feet from the restaurant, but it was still a little off the beaten path.  Interesting place – SO incredibly loud inside that we asked if we could eat on the patio, which was just lovely.  Not much quieter, but at least we were outside, which helped.  Presented first with a bag of their popcorn (and I am SUCH a sucker for popcorn…) while we looked over the menu.  R had their spicy crab pasta, and I had their Crab Louie with homemade ranch dressing.  We both did a good job cleaning our plates.  We split a desert of a half-dozen donut holes with coffee fraiche sauce for R and salted caramel for me.  (Honestly, they were good, but if compared to the amazing fresh donut and donut holes at Wildflower back in Tucson, they were only average; way too heavy for us!)  Back home about 8:30 pm and to be honest, I was too tired and wanting to get an early start to bed, for a very early start this morning.  R set his alarm for 3:15 am.

So – Eclipse Day, Monday, August 21, 2017:

Sometimes when we’re going to the airport to catch an early flight, I tend to be very restless the night before.  So it was last night.  In this case, I think I was up about every half-hour the entire night, until about 3:05 am when I just decided enough was enough.  R was already awake!  I had organized us pretty well last night, so this morning was basically just jumping into and out of the shower, into the appropriate pile of clothes, and then start getting things to the car.  We brought all of our leftover food from Saturday’s picnic, as well as water, picnic basket, blanket, binoculars, telescope, and jackets.  (It was something like 38 degrees when we left Bend.)  Pulled out of the parking lot at 3:41 am.  Beautiful morning, and not much activity around the hotel. 

"Our" spot at daybreak

Astronomers: Bill, Bob, R, Burt & Dale

Me with Michelle

As we had an hour and a half to drive, and had been warned about Mule deer in the roads, we took it carefully.  No traffic at all, even in Prineville, which has several traffic lights and we figured, if we were going to have a problem, it would be there.  Got to our designated site around 5:15 am and it was, of course, still very dark.  Our friend Hilary (Katy’s sister who used to live in Tucson) had designed and had printed some wonderful t-shirts which were done in a lovely blue.  This made it very easy to spot other members of “our” informal group. 

As the sun came up, and the various parts of our group arrived, we basically congregated in several sites down the wide berm of the road.  Different people brought different foods, and while there was a dearth of coffee (not a problem for me!) some others were wishing someone would set up a coffee shop alongside our area!  Watching the traffic patterns was interesting, as there was never any congestion at all.  There would be a string of five or ten cars, and then a long stretch with nothing, and then another group or two of cars.  Waiting for first contact – about 9:06 am was actually not a problem, as we had put out chairs, and people kept wandering back and forth.  Bob Zappala, our most seasoned eclipse viewer, was very impatient, but I think everybody else enjoyed sharing stories and looking at other people’s equipment – telescopes, eclipse glasses, binoculars, etc.  We also met the elusive astronomer #5, Dale, a very nice man who replaced Bob Zappala when Bob retired from Pierce JC in Los Angeles, and who came with his father.

Eclipse just beginning!

A few minutes later ...

Reminds me of the Cheshire Cat!

Almost full!

Finally, we could begin to make out first contact - the first little nibble on the edge of the sun – wow!  Important moment!  And, while Zappala was impatient for the “totality” time, we all watched in amazement as the moon started at the top (around 1 o’clock pm on the sun’s “dial”) and worked its way down.  As the moon moved closer to covering up the sun, the first thing we all noticed was the temperature – it was getting colder!  Then, we could really tell a difference in the light levels – getting totally dark at 10:20 am when our totality started.  Wow … I know I said that already, but it was truly an amazing experience.  I don’t remember being half as impressed when we saw the eclipse in Hawaii!  Seeing the sun’s corona so beautifully outlined in the sky – really hard to find words that can tell you how impressed I was, and I think many of the other “virgin” eclipse watchers felt the same. 

All too soon (about 2 minutes), though, our totality was over, and the sun once again began to shine.  Incredible.

At this point, we started to pack up our chairs, food, blankets, jackets, binoculars, telescope, etc. and start the trip back to Bend.  As our friends, Burt Jones and his daughter Michelle, were leaving directly from the viewing site to return to Whidbey Island, we took Burt’s daughter Kristine and her husband Milen back to Bend with us.  To be honest, this was the only time we ran into any traffic at all – heading through Prineville, there was definitely a backup, but Robert was able to guide us through town on some back roads, which worked brilliantly. 

Totality!

Totality just ending!

We got back to the Shilo Inn about 12:20 pm.  Dropped off Kristine and Milen, and then everything back up to our room.  It took a few minutes to get everything re-organized – but I was able to repack our traveling crate and get some control of our “stuff.”  As it was now definitely lunch time, we decided that rather than go out for lunch, we would feast on our picnic supplies and take naps … a very good decision!  Woke up around 3-ish, and feel much refreshed.  R sat down to work on the photos, and I read my book.  Blogging now (5:03 pm) and we will be meeting Hilary and her friends Jane and Jayne (and Jayne’s husband) for dinner in a bit!

So!  More later!

m

xxx