Northern California - August 21, 2017
Eclipse day!
We checked the weather the night before and made a plan to go to a park near Petaluma, which was supposed to be sunny, and an easy 45 minute drive away.
In the morning, it was cloudy, but we weren't worried, since we knew the weather was usually so different inland. So we started on the route we had planned on. But the clouds didn't thin out - in fact, they were so thick, we couldn't tell where the sun was at all. So I checked the weather again and saw that the forecasts had completely changed from last night, and in fact there was no sun anywhere within a close enough drive of us to catch the eclipse.
I was getting constant texts from Gina, Raquel, Michele, and Judy about their experiences. Gina found a good viewpoint quickly. Judy and Michele were fogged in, the way we were. Raquel had a great view at her kids' school.
It was really sad for us, and the kids were disappointed, but they bounced back quickly. We drove back west and south to Point Reyes and tried to salvage the day. We bought sandwiches and snacks at a nice grocery store in Point Reyes Station. Then we set off on a hike to Tomales Point, northwest of the town.
We started by driving to Pierce Point Ranch, an abandoned ranch that was semi-maintained by the state park service as a historical site. Then we hiked on a dirt path onto a ridge with the ocean to our left. the whole way. It was one of the best low-effort, high-reward hikes I've ever done. For almost all of the hike, we had fabulous views high over the ocean. And the trail passed through a Thule elk preserve, so we saw tons of elk, after first hearing their whistles and wondering what it was. David figured it out first, then we spotted the elk - so hard to see against the brown grass. It was also cool because of the clouds (a nice silver lining for missing the eclipse) -- there was absolutely no cover, so it would have been hot on a sunny day.
The hike was pretty long (though we didn't do all of it), and everyone was tired at the end. So we drove back to Point Reyes Station and had water buffalo soft serve ice cream at the grocery store. Yum! I also visited the local bookstore to buy Evie a book for the plane, since he'd finished the HP book he'd brought with him - very nice little store.
Back in Bolinas, we rested for a little bit, then at low tide, went tidepooling at Agate Beach just below us. Evie and Noah had fun conducting experiments on the snails and crabs and anemones. Still no whale carcass. Whew.
Back home, prepared and ate an enormous meal of all our remaining food. Then packed up and went to bed.
We checked the weather the night before and made a plan to go to a park near Petaluma, which was supposed to be sunny, and an easy 45 minute drive away.
In the morning, it was cloudy, but we weren't worried, since we knew the weather was usually so different inland. So we started on the route we had planned on. But the clouds didn't thin out - in fact, they were so thick, we couldn't tell where the sun was at all. So I checked the weather again and saw that the forecasts had completely changed from last night, and in fact there was no sun anywhere within a close enough drive of us to catch the eclipse.
I was getting constant texts from Gina, Raquel, Michele, and Judy about their experiences. Gina found a good viewpoint quickly. Judy and Michele were fogged in, the way we were. Raquel had a great view at her kids' school.
It was really sad for us, and the kids were disappointed, but they bounced back quickly. We drove back west and south to Point Reyes and tried to salvage the day. We bought sandwiches and snacks at a nice grocery store in Point Reyes Station. Then we set off on a hike to Tomales Point, northwest of the town.
We started by driving to Pierce Point Ranch, an abandoned ranch that was semi-maintained by the state park service as a historical site. Then we hiked on a dirt path onto a ridge with the ocean to our left. the whole way. It was one of the best low-effort, high-reward hikes I've ever done. For almost all of the hike, we had fabulous views high over the ocean. And the trail passed through a Thule elk preserve, so we saw tons of elk, after first hearing their whistles and wondering what it was. David figured it out first, then we spotted the elk - so hard to see against the brown grass. It was also cool because of the clouds (a nice silver lining for missing the eclipse) -- there was absolutely no cover, so it would have been hot on a sunny day.
The hike was pretty long (though we didn't do all of it), and everyone was tired at the end. So we drove back to Point Reyes Station and had water buffalo soft serve ice cream at the grocery store. Yum! I also visited the local bookstore to buy Evie a book for the plane, since he'd finished the HP book he'd brought with him - very nice little store.
Back in Bolinas, we rested for a little bit, then at low tide, went tidepooling at Agate Beach just below us. Evie and Noah had fun conducting experiments on the snails and crabs and anemones. Still no whale carcass. Whew.
Back home, prepared and ate an enormous meal of all our remaining food. Then packed up and went to bed.
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