Adventures With Mom - Eclipse Edition!
Oct. 15th, 2023 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodyrosemccoyMom and I went to Monticello, Utah, to see the Ring of Fire annular eclipse!
PLANNING PHASE
ME: Okay, I'm gonna get two nights at this motel, because I think we should go down two days early on account of the projected bonkers traffic.
MOM: They're also worried about whether this many people heading into the path of the umbra will strain resources.
ME: Right! Next part of the plan: we get some just-add-water freeze-dried camping meals in case the food situation is not good. I'll bring my kettle. If we hit trouble, we can always enjoy a nice pouch of astronaut stroganoff.
MOM: Good plan!
DEEP ROAD TRIP HEART TO HEART
ME: ... and in Welsh it's "Dw i eisiau paned," because they have a word for a cup of tea in Welsh, but actually their word is also te because they got it by sea and so they borrowed it from a maritime culture, unlike the Portuguese word, which is chá so I guess they got it over land ...
MOM: How do you know all this?
ME: I dunno, Duolingo is weirdly determined that I get my drink order right!
I GET TO DRIVE
MOM: *in the passenger seat* Zzz
RUMBLE STRIP: BRRRR!
MOM: Whoa! What! There's a truck!
ME: Calm down, that was the rumble strip. I'm passing the truck.
MOM: NO THERE IS A TRUCK COMING AT US
ME: *speeding up* Yeah, don't worry, we'll be back in our lane well before it gets here.
MOM: AAH!
ME: *cruises back into the southbound lane* See?
MOM:
MOM:
MOM: sorry. I was really disoriented
ME: I'm pretty sure you were actually asleep there.
FABULOUS MOAB, UTAH
ME: I'm gonna text Dad that we made it to Moab.
MOM: Tell him about the crowds! It's nuts here!
ME: Having fish tacos at Miguel's Baja Grill!
DAD: Have a margarita for me! No, wait, don't! You still have an hour to drive!
The Monticello Inn was a very nice little rundown motel with a friendly family running it, no bugs or Normans Bates in sight. We quickly made ourselves at home.
ME: As per my linguistic infodump in the car, wanna see my conlang sound changes?
MOM: Sure!
>some time later<
ME: ... and so then I look at my sound change maps to determine which changes will apply, using this handy spreadsheet, and I plug the protolanguage names into the sound change applier and I get an entirely new name!
MOM: ... And you do this for fun?
ECLIPSE EVE
ME: Let's follow family tradition and go check out the visitor center!
CANYON COUNTRY DISCOVERY CENTER: >Closed for private event<
ME: Says here on the internet that it's an eclipse festival. Something like $1500 a person?
EXTREMELY INDIGNANT LOCAL LADY: WELL THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS
The local lady gave us directions to a nice spot to hike, Loyd's (or possibly Lloyd's; the L situation was unclear) Lake.
L(L)OYD'S LAKE
MOM: Well, this is nice. We could view the eclipse from here. Or the motel parking lot. Whichever.
ME: Wow, I think the Xolair really helped me with my exercise-induced wheezing! This is great!
THE FOOD SITUATION
We did not have to eat astronaut food. There was a Mexican restaurant next door to the motel, and they had not been de-supplied!
THE MOTEL PARKING LOT
We did, in fact, watch the eclipse from the motel parking lot. They had eclipse glasses at the front desk, but we'd brought our own from the Space Place. I thought it was funny how, through my glances at the sun sans glasses,* it looked exactly as bright as ever, but the world around us started to turn into a day-for-night shot. I have no idea if it was just cognitive priming, but it felt like the temperature went down a bit, too.
MOM: You know how they say animals go quiet during an eclipse?
ME: Yeah, that's kinda true, actually, depending on the animal.
MOM: Well, it seems to have worked on the trucks! I haven't heard one drive by here in several minutes!
The family that ran the motel was hanging out behind us and chattering away, but we didn't really wind up interacting. I kinda half-expected to be called upon to impart my Official Space Place Knowledge of What The Hell Is An Eclipse, but it didn't really work out that way. They were busy with their own stuff, so I made do with explaining it to Mom, who was a little shaky on the Ring of Fire phenomenon. But it was pretty cool to see it, and actually a little bit helpful to get a visual sense of things!
MOM: So you're telling me we're driving 700 miles round trip for TWO MINUTES of this cool ring?
ME: Oh, shut up. You're loving the scenery, if nothing else.
And the scenery was fantastic! We drove on a little loop around the Abajo Mountain foothills before getting back on the road to come home, and it was a bright sunny day once the Moon got out of the way!
BACK IN MOAB
MOM: I gotta get some coffee if I'm driving back.
ME: Hey, they have pumpkin spice lattes! You know, I've never had a pumpkin spice latte, or any latte at all, for that matter.
ME: But I do drink coffee on road trips, so: One pumpkin spice latte, good sir!
BARISTA: Here you go!
ME:
ME: Hmm.
ME: I remember why I don't buy lattes. I don't like coffee.
MOM: Can I have yours?
Anyway, we made it back! The eclipse traffic wasn't too disastrous, either. All-around great Ring of Fire weekend getaway!
These guys didn't have eclipse glasses, so they had to watch the indirect way, as documented by Dad. Can you see some pinhole projections through the tree shadows?
*Yeah, yeah, do not do this, but actually do not stare directly at the sun for long periods of time. I have noticed this weird thing where people say that you should not look directly at the sun during an eclipse, as though the eclipse is the thing that damages your eyes. The truth is that you should not look directly at the sun at any time, and the reason we start giving out warnings during eclipses is because that's when people forget/think it's safe because most of the sun is obscured. And your blink reflex might not kick in when the sun is partially obscured, so your body might forget, too.
PLANNING PHASE
ME: Okay, I'm gonna get two nights at this motel, because I think we should go down two days early on account of the projected bonkers traffic.
MOM: They're also worried about whether this many people heading into the path of the umbra will strain resources.
ME: Right! Next part of the plan: we get some just-add-water freeze-dried camping meals in case the food situation is not good. I'll bring my kettle. If we hit trouble, we can always enjoy a nice pouch of astronaut stroganoff.
MOM: Good plan!
DEEP ROAD TRIP HEART TO HEART
ME: ... and in Welsh it's "Dw i eisiau paned," because they have a word for a cup of tea in Welsh, but actually their word is also te because they got it by sea and so they borrowed it from a maritime culture, unlike the Portuguese word, which is chá so I guess they got it over land ...
MOM: How do you know all this?
ME: I dunno, Duolingo is weirdly determined that I get my drink order right!
I GET TO DRIVE
MOM: *in the passenger seat* Zzz
RUMBLE STRIP: BRRRR!
MOM: Whoa! What! There's a truck!
ME: Calm down, that was the rumble strip. I'm passing the truck.
MOM: NO THERE IS A TRUCK COMING AT US
ME: *speeding up* Yeah, don't worry, we'll be back in our lane well before it gets here.
MOM: AAH!
ME: *cruises back into the southbound lane* See?
MOM:
MOM:
MOM: sorry. I was really disoriented
ME: I'm pretty sure you were actually asleep there.
FABULOUS MOAB, UTAH
ME: I'm gonna text Dad that we made it to Moab.
MOM: Tell him about the crowds! It's nuts here!
ME: Having fish tacos at Miguel's Baja Grill!
DAD: Have a margarita for me! No, wait, don't! You still have an hour to drive!
The Monticello Inn was a very nice little rundown motel with a friendly family running it, no bugs or Normans Bates in sight. We quickly made ourselves at home.
ME: As per my linguistic infodump in the car, wanna see my conlang sound changes?
MOM: Sure!
>some time later<
ME: ... and so then I look at my sound change maps to determine which changes will apply, using this handy spreadsheet, and I plug the protolanguage names into the sound change applier and I get an entirely new name!
MOM: ... And you do this for fun?
ECLIPSE EVE
ME: Let's follow family tradition and go check out the visitor center!
CANYON COUNTRY DISCOVERY CENTER: >Closed for private event<
ME: Says here on the internet that it's an eclipse festival. Something like $1500 a person?
EXTREMELY INDIGNANT LOCAL LADY: WELL THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS
The local lady gave us directions to a nice spot to hike, Loyd's (or possibly Lloyd's; the L situation was unclear) Lake.
L(L)OYD'S LAKE
MOM: Well, this is nice. We could view the eclipse from here. Or the motel parking lot. Whichever.
ME: Wow, I think the Xolair really helped me with my exercise-induced wheezing! This is great!
THE FOOD SITUATION
We did not have to eat astronaut food. There was a Mexican restaurant next door to the motel, and they had not been de-supplied!
THE MOTEL PARKING LOT
We did, in fact, watch the eclipse from the motel parking lot. They had eclipse glasses at the front desk, but we'd brought our own from the Space Place. I thought it was funny how, through my glances at the sun sans glasses,* it looked exactly as bright as ever, but the world around us started to turn into a day-for-night shot. I have no idea if it was just cognitive priming, but it felt like the temperature went down a bit, too.
MOM: You know how they say animals go quiet during an eclipse?
ME: Yeah, that's kinda true, actually, depending on the animal.
MOM: Well, it seems to have worked on the trucks! I haven't heard one drive by here in several minutes!
The family that ran the motel was hanging out behind us and chattering away, but we didn't really wind up interacting. I kinda half-expected to be called upon to impart my Official Space Place Knowledge of What The Hell Is An Eclipse, but it didn't really work out that way. They were busy with their own stuff, so I made do with explaining it to Mom, who was a little shaky on the Ring of Fire phenomenon. But it was pretty cool to see it, and actually a little bit helpful to get a visual sense of things!
MOM: So you're telling me we're driving 700 miles round trip for TWO MINUTES of this cool ring?
ME: Oh, shut up. You're loving the scenery, if nothing else.
And the scenery was fantastic! We drove on a little loop around the Abajo Mountain foothills before getting back on the road to come home, and it was a bright sunny day once the Moon got out of the way!
BACK IN MOAB
MOM: I gotta get some coffee if I'm driving back.
ME: Hey, they have pumpkin spice lattes! You know, I've never had a pumpkin spice latte, or any latte at all, for that matter.
ME: But I do drink coffee on road trips, so: One pumpkin spice latte, good sir!
BARISTA: Here you go!
ME:
ME: Hmm.
ME: I remember why I don't buy lattes. I don't like coffee.
MOM: Can I have yours?
Anyway, we made it back! The eclipse traffic wasn't too disastrous, either. All-around great Ring of Fire weekend getaway!
These guys didn't have eclipse glasses, so they had to watch the indirect way, as documented by Dad. Can you see some pinhole projections through the tree shadows?
*Yeah, yeah, do not do this, but actually do not stare directly at the sun for long periods of time. I have noticed this weird thing where people say that you should not look directly at the sun during an eclipse, as though the eclipse is the thing that damages your eyes. The truth is that you should not look directly at the sun at any time, and the reason we start giving out warnings during eclipses is because that's when people forget/think it's safe because most of the sun is obscured. And your blink reflex might not kick in when the sun is partially obscured, so your body might forget, too.
