Aurora to Eclipse 2024

Planning for the 2024 Great American Solar Eclipse began more than a year before April 8. Although the path of totality would pass over my brother's house near Buffalo, NY, I opted to travel to Texas in hopes of clear skies. The importance of a clear sky cannot be overemphasized when discussing the observation of totality. Eclipse chasers try to get close to the center line of the path of totality to maximize the duration of totality. And Those Who Know ... know that the difference between 99.9% totality and actual totality (100%) cannot be expressed in words.

My friend and fellow retired physics teacher, Dan Burns, was looking at North Waco as an option. I refreshed hotel reservation sites regularly hoping for availability. I expanded the search area and found a Hyatt east of Dallas that had opened their availability for the April 6-9 window. It seems they didn't know what they had. While other lodging options in the path of totality were harvesting dollars as best they could, tripling their normal rates, Hyatt was asking $105/night. Dan and I jumped on the deal.

We both made road trips of the journey to Dallas. Mine started in Bozeman and stopped by the Garden of the Gods (Colorado Springs) en route to Dallas. I made a slow journey back to Bozeman via red rock country. Arches, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Vermilion Cliffs, Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon, and Flaming Gorge were among the "detours."

A month later, the aurora filled the skies over North America. Montana was "in the zone." I found some dark skies near Bozeman, but the northern lights were blazing nicely over the city, too. From The Headwaters of the Missouri State Park, you felt like you were under an umbrella of aurora. We had additional decent shows in August and October.

Here's the HTML export from my Keynote slideshow of all this stuff. You show be able to advance it easily enough in your browser. It behaves nicely for me in Safari and Firefox. And decently on my iPad (once I updated to iPadOS 18.2.1). HTML exports from Keynote can sometimes be a little laggy on advancing. I use the forward arrow key to advance things on my computer and just tap the screen on my iPad.

Aurora to Eclipse 2024 [HTML export from Keynote]

If you cannot get the HTML version to play nicely, here's a movie export posted to YouTube. It plays on its own; you can pause and unpause as needed.

Aurora to Eclipse 2024 [Movie export from Keynote]

Ex-Genesis guitarist, Steve Hackett was playing a concert in Dallas two days before the eclipse, so I was able to see that.

In the video capture of our "Eclipse Party" in the Hyatt's back yard, Dan was just off the left side of the screen. The enthusiastic gentleman on the right of the screen turns out to be the brother of a teacher colleague I worked with at Rio. He texted his brother once we figured out our random connection, and his brother complimented me with a colorful characterization.

Our sense of euphoric relief cannot be overstated. We thought we might get completely blocked from totality. And we had planned long in advance and traveled great distances to be there. Dan had several family members with him. Whew!

2024 04 Great American Eclipse in Dallas Photo Album

2024 04 Eclipse Road Trip Diversions Photo Album

2024 04 Eclipse Trip iPhone Photo Album

Super Summer Sojourn 2003

Arches National Park
Jean and I arrived in the early afternoon and decided to proceed directly to Devil’s Garden for baking-hot hike out to Landscape Arch and environs. I returned in the evening to get the required sunset shots at Delicate Arch. The next day we toured Balanced Rock, The Windows Section, Skyline Arch, and Park Avenue before motoring on to

Durango
We met up with Heather and Tyler. We rode the D&SNGRR train to Silverton. Caught some excellent scenery and a cinder for both eyes. It was the 4th of July, so we got a fireworks show as well. From there, we proceeded the short distance to

Mesa Verde National Park
I took an afternoon tour of Balcony House; we all took a whole-day tour of the park, ending with a hands-on tour of Cliff Palace. Ten days after we left, lightning strikes started fires in the Park that caused an evacuation and closure. But for the moment, we were off to

Grand Canyon National Park
to enjoy the sights from the rim. I also managed to sneak in a few hikes below the rim. Jean arranged for us to take a float trip along the Colorado River through the twists, turns, cold water and hot air of Glenn Canyon. Next we headed northeast to

Monument Valley
and Goulding’s Lodge. Jean and I snuck into the Tribal Park before closing and got some sunset shots of the monuments. The next day we got a full tour of the park with a Navajo guide. Then it was back to Durango where Heather and Tyler headed back to Michigan. Jean and I motored south to

Chaco Culture National Historical Park
It’s 17 miles of dirt road into and out of the park. The Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloan) ruins are amazing, though. On our way to Bryce Canyon we stopped off for a quick tour of the

Antelope Canyon Slot Canyons
Spectacular erosional sandstone geology. Extremely difficult to photograph. A quick photo op at

Red Rock Canyon before entering Bryce Canyon
We hiked the rim and drove to the distant viewpoints. Then it was off to

Zion National Park
Zion Canyon is a desert swamp with more varieties of plant life than can be found in Hawaii. Red rock scale model of Yosemite? After a scary stopover in Tonopah, NV (don’t ever go there), we landed in Lee Vining, CA for another installment of the

Mono Lake/Bodie
pilgrimage before heading into

Yosemite National Park
The sky had been uncooperative since Bryce Canyon. But now it was getting plain nasty. Our attempts at morning and evening shots at Mono were closed down by cloudy skies or outright electrical storms. We got more of the same in Yosemite. We shot what we could while we were there. That’s all you can ever do!

Colorado-Utah Loop 2002

It began with a Baird-Ellenwood-VandeKopple hootenanny in Estes Park, Colorado.

2002 07 Colorado Photo Album

iMovie Bonus: Rocky Mountain Roundup


I returned via Utah, delving first into the Moab area.

2002 07 Southeast Utah Photo Album


Then on to Bryce Canyon before motoring back to Sacramento.

2002 07 Bryce Canyon Photo Album

B&GER Entry: 4. Colorado (June and July)

Several strands of the Baird Clan came together in Estes Park, Colorado, for a little Rocky Mountain get-together. Mom, Heather, and Tyler came from Michigan, Mary and Bryce came from New York, Carol, Dave, Bradley, and Katie came from Indiana, and I came from California. Doug, Janet, Patrick, and Alex came from, well, they were kinda already there! We did our traditional drive to the Alpine Visitors’ Center and took a few hikes within the park. And the round of minigolf at Tiny Town was the stuff of legends.

5. Southern Colorado and Utah (July)

After breaking camp in Estes Park, I headed across the state to Durango for more sightseeing. The train wasn’t running (due to fire danger), so I took a jeep tour of the area. Next, it was off to Mesa Verde. Again, fire danger closed the mesa to car traffic, so I took a bus trip to a guided tour of a cliff house. Then up to Moab and Arches National Park. I signed up for an “adventure hike” into the erosional landscape known as Fiery Furnace. Not for the faint of heart or unsure-footed. Then it was time to head over to Bryce Canyon National Park. Far too many good pictures in that park! Enjoyed a morning hike through the hoodoos and an afternoon drive to the southern end of the park.  I’ll need to get back to Arches and Bryce soon to get the many shots I missed.

Dave & Dean's Senior Trip 1982

Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Rocky Mountain National Parks and points between and beyond. Starring Dean & Dave, with Bryce, Bob, and Jean, among others. For the title characters, it was post-Creston, pre-Michigan.

Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore, and Devil's Tower were visited as well. Rocky Mountain cameo appearance by Doug & Patty.

Jean-Michel Jarre's “Arpegiator” from 1982's The Concerts in China provides the soundtrack.

Dean & Dave's '82 Senior Trip

My first trip to Yellowstone

The Baird clan loaded into the Blue Goose (1967 Buick Special Wagon) and drove to Yellowstone in the summer of 1975. We also had stops in/at Mitchell, Laura Ingalls Wilder's space, Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore, The Tetons, Rocky Mountain, and others. That's a Leica rangefinder I'm shooting, an Elton John's Greatest Hits T that I'm wearing, and a "raised by wolves" 'do that I'm owning.

I became enthralled with Yellowstone. It captivated me more than any other "out west" destination did before or since. It remains my single favorite national park to this day.

Jean's video