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

Scott Tinley's Long Course was my final, final season finale. Yes, I know I'm supposed to be done racing for the year, but this one was non-negotiable because I had a specific agenda:

To win the Goodwell Fitness Tri Club Championship Series.

The contest is in its inaugural year, and the two main objectives are to score club points and to score individual points. With one event left to go, the Silicon Valley Tri Club was in a tight race with Triathlon Club San Diego and Golden Gate Triathlon Club, and we needed as many racers as possible to show up in San Luis Obispo to secure the win. I took this assignment very seriously.

Additionally, in the competition for individual points, I was in the top three, and the stakes were high: the first place prize was a Fitness Adventure sponsored by Goodwell Fitness and Alaska Airlines. This included round-trip airline tickets for two, a two night hotel stay, and a race entry fee at the destination of your choice (U.S. & Mexico). Holy crap! A dream come true!

This was a no brainer. Injured or not, I needed to be at this final race in the series. Scott Tinley's offers Sprint, Olympic and Long, with higher TCCS point values assigned to the longer distances. Long Course it is!

I combined forces with fellow SVTC racer (and club president) Carin, and last minute accommodations were hastily booked at a "budget level" motel in Arroyo Grande, just 20 minutes from the race venue at Lopez Lake.

The decor wasn't really my style, but at least the lampshades were still in the package. Nothing worse than a stale lampshade.


Posted by Kimberly 10/21/2015

Vang Vieng is a small town in Northern Laos which is unfortunately a stop on the backpackers beaten trail, destroying any charm it once had and turning it into a feeding frenzy for those looking to squeeze an easy buck from the ignorant travellers. We had to stop however because just outside Vang Vieng are incredible limestone cliffs and the only climbing sites in Laos. The weather was threatening to rain but we decided we couldn't risk missing the only chance we would have. We grabbed our shoes, rented the rope and harnesses we would need from a local shop and headed for the closest, driest site.

Eager to get some real climbing in

Posted by nik 11/15/2008, revised 11/15/2008

Ok, so my life has been a busy mash of happiness, fun, and adventures. I've done a lot since I last wrote, and I feel it is only appropriate for me to fill you all in. However, if I were to write it all in one entry, the entry would be far too long, and I would never be able to complete it because it's too big of a mountain to face. So instead, I will write several blog entries, covering each thing:

This one, my friends, is about last weekend's folk festival. While Townsville is a renowned red-neck town, there is a hidden hippie culture... and I found them at the Palm Creek Folk Festival!! The festival was last weekend, Fri-Mon, on an eco-tourism area about 40 mins out of town. It's at the base of the the Great Dividing Range mountains, right next to national park. In short: beautiful place.

I went with my good friends Andrew and Hugo, and Hugo's friend Zoe. We went on Saturday evening, and listened to music, ate great food, met great people, had an awesome time camping, and just generally enjoyed the whole atmosphere. It felt so nice to get away and finally see live music again. It was also really nice to see this crowd of people, because this culture is hidden away in Townsville, drowned out my the red-necks driving by in their shiny utes (those car-truck things), honking their horns and yelling out the window at bike-ists. But anyway, yeah, we had a great time and I was so happy to semi-satisfy my yearning for live music. All of the acts were little local bands, but there was some really great music! Let's face it: Live Music is Better.

Me and friend Andrew, enjoying the beauty of our surroundings on Sunday afternoon, with the sounds of folk music coming from the stages behind us.

We stayed until Monday morning, when we hitched back early so that I could get back to town in time to leave for a different camping trip... which is the topic of my next adventure! Read the next story to learn more...

As my camera is broken and I don't have my own pictures from the weekend, I've provided a link to Hugo's photo album of the trip. Unfortunately he doesn't provide captions, so there's no indication of who's who (unless you're logged into Facebook). But there's not much necessary commentary anyway: it was a beautiful location, Andrew's got the dark hair, Hugo the light hair, Zoe's the girl :)

Just an interesting side note: Andrew and Hugo are 2 of the guys that live at the house I Couchsurfed at my very first day in Townsville, before I found a place to live. I mentioned them in one of my very first blog entries - they were the first people I met in Townsville, and they are now some of my closest friends. I just think that's so cool the way that worked out, thought I'd share :)

Photo album - Palm Creek Folk Festival: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2186077&l=33f69&id=61011192
Posted by Whitney 06/15/2008, revised 06/19/2008