The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

It was a pleasure having Kim visiting for the weekend, back from Chicago to Northern California for a few days. She was here to take part in the Olympic distance Wildflower Triathlon.

The site for the Wildflower was Lake San Antonio reservoir, between King City and San Luis Obispo. With limited accomodations nearby, many of the 3000 participants and spectators camped out at the state park along the reservoir, so we joined Kim and the bustling city of tents and RVs Saturday night.

Kim ran another successful race, finishing 4th out of 300 in her age group! See here for photos.


Posted by Dan 05/16/2008

Bangkok is one of those cities that makes an impression the second you get there. However after you get over the smell and the traffic there actually is some wonderful wonders to be found. We were fortunate enough to be staying with a couchsurfer and he acted as our tour guide while we were in the city. Our first day we made our way by train, boat and taxi to Canchanaburi where there is a train bridge.

Jen got over the wonderful wonders quick.

Posted by nik 09/14/2008, revised 09/21/2008

I'm keeping a photo album on Facebook that should be visible to everyone. This is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2116456&id=19700757&l=0e623a1589

Enjoy!
Posted by Whitney 03/02/2008, revised 03/08/2008