In August we flew up to Little Rock to meet our new baby niece! She is adorable! Flight out of Austin was delayed to where we would miss our connection in Dallas. Thankfully the flight before us (which was also delayed but left when we should have) had two seats left and we were able to hop on. Turns out that connection was delayed due to thunderstorms in Little Rock, so we hung out for an extra hour or so at Love Field.
Saturday morning we celebrated another niece's birthday with a Doc McStuffins themed party complete with snow-cones, a teddy bear hospital and more. This is also where we met the new cutie and I got to have many aunt snuggles.
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| the eldest niece is basically as tall as me now! |
After the party, all of us went to Mr. Chen's for some delicious family style Chinese food. The kids got a kick out of a giant jackfruit and tiny bananas in the grocery store part. Once stuffed, a handful of us checked out the Clinton Presidential Library.
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| Chihuly glass art |
We had dinner at my sister-in-law's house where we played a couple games and stuffed ourselves again. After monitoring the weather all weekend and checking out different plans, we decided to continue pushing ahead with our original plan to view the total eclipse from St. Joseph, MO.
Sunday late morning we headed to the airport and once we reached Dallas for the connection, we were delayed due to a problem with the plane. After waiting for a replacement, we finally flew out and arrived at dark. We stayed at an airport hotel and received an upgrade to a corner room. Maybe because they are in the midst of renovating the rooms? I think we were the first to stay in our newly upgraded room.
The place we wanted to visit [Arthur Bryant] was closed already as were basically all the other good BBQ places. I wanted to add Kansas to my states visited list, so we drove a little bit over the state line to Gates Bar B Q. Meh. Not very good sadly.
The next morning we woke up and checked out the Kansas City Google office. Rain is coming...
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| ominous storm clouds |
After meeting up with a co-worker, we all headed north to St. Joseph. Not much traffic on the way there. We hung out at the civic park for the big event. Sadly it was cloudy most of the time. We saw the start of the eclipse unobstructed and then the clouds set in for a couple hours. Right before the main event a large rain cloud dumped a bunch of rain on us, so we hung out under a tent. As totality began, the rain stopped and we ran up on a hill. The clouds thinned out a tad (never fully) so that we were able to see the total eclipse for about 20 seconds! It was so eerie that it was so dark. The lights in the park were on a sensor, so turned on. One guy brought a chicken and rooster to see what they would do, and sure enough the rooster crowed!
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| eclipse starting in Oregon on the screen |
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| partial eclipse (behind clouds) |
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| hung out under one of these when the rain poured |
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| totality almost here (behind clouds) |
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| getting darker! |
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| looking west |
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| park lights turned on automatically at "dusk" |
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| in totality!! |
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| totality! |
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| my attempt at a photo of totality |
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| great photo from the fancy camera of totality |
Once the big event was over, people started packing up and heading out. Since we had a plane to catch in a few hours, we did the same. Back roads were better, but still a tad crowded with people heading back to Kansas City. Countryside was pretty!
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| eclipse traffic jam |
After arriving back in KC, we grabbed some food and then headed to the airport. Then we sat and sat and sat. Around 7:30p we got on the plane (were supposed to leave at 7:05p) but then the storms began raging. I do not think I've ever seen lightning like that before. The rain came down in sheets and the 3mi and 6mi lighting alarms were blaring for about four hours as we sat on the plane. The cabin door was still open so people could come and go because they could not finish loading luggage and refuel with the lighting constantly striking. Finally around 11:30p we had a tiny break in the storm to take off, so we took it. Our connection in Houston to Austin had left long ago despite about 40 of us continuing to Austin from this flight!!
We landed in Houston around 1:30a and then let Southwest know we were not taking any rebooked flight. We grabbed a car at Hertz and then drove the rest of the way home and got in about 4:45a. After a nap, I got up, returned the car, and then made it to work before 9am. I was super exhausted that day!
Really cool experience, just sad the weather messed with our plans. Can't wait for April 2024 when one can be seen from our house!
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