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pantryslutG. and the kids and I drove up to Redding to watch the eclipse yesterday. 3+ hours there, 3+ hours back. abostick59 tagged along in the back of our rented minivan.
First of all, OK, minivan. With a built-in DVD player to keep the girls entertained! I think we may be sold on the idea, if not the reality quite yet. After a childhood full of building my muscles on the sliding van door, though, I am still freaked out by doors that close themselves.
Simone chose to skip viewing the eclipse in favor of playing with another slightly younger girl on the concrete stage in Redding's big central park. They built big piles of leaves and pretended to be dinosaurs eating lunch. April took a break to peek through her special glasses with the rest of us, however. Then she ran circles around the park until she tired herself out. We changed them into pajamas and diapers at a gas station on our way back after they feel asleep in their carseats.
The weird sickly sunlight triggered a serious sense memory of my "first eclipse," in 1999 in Germany. On my 29th birthday, as it happens. There is nothing else quite like that light, and it's so hard to capture what it's like.
Redding folks (and visitors) were very friendly, the park was busy but not too crowded, and all in all it was a lot of fun. Definitely worth the excursion.
Next time I pack a picnic.
abostick59 tagged along in the back of our rented minivan.First of all, OK, minivan. With a built-in DVD player to keep the girls entertained! I think we may be sold on the idea, if not the reality quite yet. After a childhood full of building my muscles on the sliding van door, though, I am still freaked out by doors that close themselves.
Simone chose to skip viewing the eclipse in favor of playing with another slightly younger girl on the concrete stage in Redding's big central park. They built big piles of leaves and pretended to be dinosaurs eating lunch. April took a break to peek through her special glasses with the rest of us, however. Then she ran circles around the park until she tired herself out. We changed them into pajamas and diapers at a gas station on our way back after they feel asleep in their carseats.
The weird sickly sunlight triggered a serious sense memory of my "first eclipse," in 1999 in Germany. On my 29th birthday, as it happens. There is nothing else quite like that light, and it's so hard to capture what it's like.
Redding folks (and visitors) were very friendly, the park was busy but not too crowded, and all in all it was a lot of fun. Definitely worth the excursion.
Next time I pack a picnic.
