August 21, 2017: Solar Eclipse

Skies darkened from Oregon to South Carolina in the first total solar eclipse visible from coast to coast across the United States in 99 years.

According to Google, a total solar eclipse occurs when the disk of the moon appears to completely cover the disk of the sun in the sky. The fact that total solar eclipses occur at all is a quirk of cosmic geometry. The moon orbits an average of 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) from Earth — just the right distance to seem the same size in the sky as the much-larger sun. However, these heavenly bodies line up only about once every 18 months.

Outside the path of totality, skywatchers in the continental U.S. and other nearby areas will see a partial solar eclipse, in which the moon appears to take a bite out of the sun's disk. Two to five solar eclipses occur each year on average, but total solar eclipses happen just once every 18 months or so.  

I had decided to take the week off of work to relax.    I didn't plan to be off on the day of the solar eclipse, but it was fun to take part in it.   

Mom and I went to the Fruitport Library to get our special glasses to be worn for the eclipse.   I saw the moon go in front of the sun.    In Michigan, we could only see a partial eclipse.  It was neat to see it.   

I brought my friend, Matthew Conlin, a pair of the glasses so he could see the eclipse. 

Anyway, it was a neat experience to see this eclipse.   It was quite the hype on the news for weeks.   

August 19, 2017: 3 Family Camping

For 30 years now, I have been going with my aunt, uncle, cousins, Lawvers', and Klees' on the annual camping trip.   It was the best thing that could have happened to me while growing up. They are all like family to me.     When I was 13, I used to think that Jase Lawver was the bomb.    I would think of him day and night and couldn't wait to go on the camping trips and see the boys.     The boys haven't been on the camping trips in years, as they have their own families now.     

Our camping trips have changed over the years.   We used to go to Silver Lake, Traverse City State Park, Mackinac Island, etc.   This year, we met at Wendy and Todd's cottage near Evart, Michigan. 

I really wanted my friends, Olivia and Josh to come to the camping trip this year, but wasn't sure they would come.     Olivia met some of my relatives and friends on the women's wine weekend, but hadn't met the rest of the gang.    Josh decided to come along which made me so happy.     He's not a boyfriend, although, I wish he was.     He went kayaking with Justin (Dawn's son).   Uncle George, Skip, and Harold took quite a long nap so weren't very talkative.      It was just nice to hang out with the gang.

Josh drove us home and we had fun singing to the music.