The Shillig Chronicles: Total Eclipse of the Heart

I've been singing this song for WAY too long!

Yesterday was a nice day (it was my birthday!). I actually got to shower and we found a chapel near by and spent the day at church. That evening, we decided to get a move on and start looking for a great place to park for today's eclipse viewing.

As we traveled down a few roads, we found that just because we had been there for a few days already, we were a little late on the good spots. As we went deeper and deeper into this mountain, my dreams of having a nice open field to view it was diminishing.

After about an hour or so, we saw a truck that looked like it was in trouble (the roads there are very steep and narrow) as Chase got out to help, we noticed the man's truck was full with people and a baby. It was a little nerve wracking and as their truck veered further and further off the road, Chase had them (all except the man) get out and stand off to the side while he pulled their truck up with his chains.

As they got out, we saw the mother and the grandmother holding a small baby. The kids mentioned how they were nervous and Vance suggested we say a little prayer. We all bowed our heads and said a quick prayer together. When I opened my eyes, one of the ladies was at my window. She kindly asked if we were LDS (what gave it away; the prayer or the multitude of children?!). When I said we were, she told us that they were too!

What was more, she said they were on their way up to the church's campsite (they're calling is overseeing the building and matinence) and asked if we'd like to join them there and stay for the eclipse the next day. We were elated!

After Chase and the man finished getting their truck back on the road, we were off! They were happy to see the kids, and our kids were elated to find that they brought along 5 dogs (one for each!) to play with while we were there.

The next day, we got up early and did some chores inside the church's main building to say thank you for letting us come. We made breakfast, did school and then- just like that- it was time to start charting the eclipse!

The kids got out their science journals and began drawing and charting the time. The first hour went pretty slowly. We killed time with playing in between checking the sky.

Once the moon got closer to covering our view, it went quickly! So quickly, in fact that I was sad later we didn't chart the temperature change as well. It went from about 80 degrees to (totality) 65 degrees! It got COLD fast!

Seeing that moon cover our view of the sun, for even just that short period of time was something I've never witnessed before. And I am the luckiest girl in the world to get to share it with my family! I couldn't believe how dark and cold it got and just as quickly, how warm it started to get right after totality.

Once we finished, the kids and I went back to the trailer to write in our journals. I love that Kurt had drawn pictures and diagramed the entire experience every 15 minutes.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the campgrounds and enjoying the beautiful weather.