Yanan's impromptu eclipse trip
Apr. 11th, 2024 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sniffnoySo I hadn't originally planned on travelling anywhere for the solar eclipse.
I'd just gone up to visitjoshuazelinsky just the weekend before, which I'd planned without accounting for the eclipse. A friend of mine had invited me to join them and some other friends on a trip to Canada that weekend to see the eclipse, but, well, a second trip, just a week after? Eh, I wasn't really feeling up to it and didn't join in.
So I figured I would just see the partial eclipse here from New York City. I mean, a partial eclipse is still cool, right? I'd seen the one in 2017 from Michigan, and, wow, that was certainly something!
Then, Sunday night, I get a message from Yanan. Hey, she says, you want to come with me and some friends on a road trip to upstate New York to see the total eclipse? It'd be a day trip. I'm like, OK, when and where would we meet up for this? And she tells me 7:30 AM. I'm like, no thanks, that's too early for me. I mean, you know my schedule...
But Yanan asks again, and points out you can sleep in the car y'know, and points out the next big one in the area won't be for another 20 years, and I'm like, y'know what, screw it. A partial eclipse I've seen before, but a total one never; am I really going to miss this chance? To hell with it, I'll stay up all night and sleep in the car so I can come see this total eclipse.
...I did not, in fact, stay up all night, but I only slept 3 hours. Then I got up and headed to Long Island City to meet up with Yanan and the others (including Will, who I hadn't met before, and who would do all the driving for the entire trip, holy crap...)
The trip was a bit of a mess -- but when you consider how unplanned it all was, it was surprisingly little of one. I didn't really realize how long it would be -- well, none of us did, it ended up taking rather longer to get there and get back than Yanan and Will had anticipated -- but I didn't even realize how far we were going. How far? All the way to Lake Champlain! Noblewood Park in Willsboro, NY. The intended time to get there was maybe like 4 and a half hours; it ended up taking 7. And similarly to get back.
Will and Yanan, our expedition leaders, decided to follow Google Maps's suggested route, which meant we ended up taking some roads that were definitely not the most obvious way and had us questioning the route, but, hey, we rarely faced horrific traffic (possibly as a result).
Our first stop was in (actually just outside of) Taghkanic, NY, where we stopped for gas and encountered a Buddhist temple. Huh.
Our second stop was... well, so, one thing about the unusual route was that it had a lot more of the things (winding roads, stoplights) that are likely to make me carsick. I wasn't close to throwing up (although at one point I asked if anyone had a plastic bag, which thankfully Yanan did), but I was not in great condition, so we stopped at the rest stop with the intent of buying some anti-nausea medicine (I hadn't brought any). I was like, will they really sell that there? But people were confident they would. Well, they didn't.
So our next stop was to make a detour to Saratoga Springs, where we stopped at a CVS to get the medicine, and at a deli for lunch -- I ordered a pork schnitzel sandwich, but of course, was in no condition to eat it right then. This was a significant detour and definitely added some time, beyond that from what we stopped for.
Fortunately the medicine eventually worked and I started to feel a lot less sick. It also made me quite sleepy -- when getting it, we got the less-sleep-inducing version, but it still did a lot to help me sleep. Before picking that up I did not in fact sleep in the car at all.
Given the delays (both from me feeling sick and things just taking longer than expected), we were still on the road when the eclipse started. Fortunately there weren't, like, people stopping in the road to see the eclipse or anything -- although we did while on the highway pass by one entrance where lots of people had pulled over to the side to see it. Why that highway entrance specifically, I have no idea. We didn't see this anywhere else. This wasn't even in the zone of totality yet, so you'd think they'd be driving to get there rather than stopping there...
Once we were in the zone of totality, there was some question of whether we should continue to the original planned destination or stop early to make sure we didn't miss totality. This led to some stopping and starting, and I complained, hey, you're going to make me sick again! Ultimately we did continue with the original plan, making it to the park with plenty of time left to catch the total eclipse (and with quite a view of Vermont across the lake).
So yeah! Total eclipse! First time seeing that... quite something. One thing I didn't realize, I thought that with the sun blocked out it was going to be, like, night. Not so; it only really got, like, evening-level dark. Like, even though we were out in the middle of nowhere, where the stars would certainly be visible at night (they were on the trip back), they weren't during the eclipse. Well, one was, but that's it.
Anyway, yeah, glad I went out there rather than just seeing a partial eclipse a second time!
Quite a few other people had come to the same park, actually... and not just other people from the town nearby, we talked to some other people who had come about as far as we had. Also, there was an adorable baby! Eventually Will was like, OK, we gotta go if we want to get back at a reasonable time (the eclipse hadn't actually yet ended at this point), so we got back in the car for the return trip. (Also, after totality, I finally started eating my schnitzel sandwich.)
I slept through a lot of the return trip, so I can't say a lot about it. We stopped for a while in Lee Park in Westport, NY so one of us could call someone as they'd scheduled. There were some neat birds there! I mean, OK, mostly just seagulls and Canada geese. But also a big black bird flew by that might have been a coromorant, and another one that maybe was the same one but looked like a different bird (not a cormorant) to me, and some small ones that flew by quickly and I couldn't identify. Also, there was a cool spider, but it vanished before I could get a picture of it. I ate the rest of my sandwich there.
We also detoured to Saratoga Springs again on the way back, this time to get dinner. We went to some Spanish restaurant; I didn't eat a lot because I'd only just eaten my sandwich, but it was pretty good!
I guess the one other notable thing that happened on the way back was our next attempt to stop for gas -- I'm not sure where it was. We stopped at a gas station only for Will to find that the machine wouldn't let him pay. We went to go inside to the store to ask for help, but the store was closed and the door locked. But there was still someone inside, cleaning up -- we got his attention, but he was just like, we're closed. But we were like, no, we're not here for the store, we're here about a problem with the gas! It took a while but finally he came out... and told us, no, it's not just the store, the whole gas station's closed. Which was pretty frustrating, as absolutely nothing indicated that it was closed! The signs were on and everything. Annoying!
He pointed the way to another one which was open, although on the way we made the mistake of trying another one that happened to be closed while looking completely open. And then we passed by a third closed one (just before the open one) and had the good sense to just skip that one. Oy.
Eventually we made it back to New York City, at like 2 AM, definitely later than intended, and like an hour after that I made it home... hoo boy. I slept until 2 PM the next day and it still wasn't nearly enough! (I couldn't sleep in any longer, I had a doctor's appointment to go to.) It wasn't until Tuesday night that I finally slept enough. (And it was Will who did all the driving, hope he slept well!)
So yeah, Yanan's impromptu eclipse trip! Definitely not doing that again, but hey, I got to see a total eclipse finally...
-Harry
I'd just gone up to visit
joshuazelinsky just the weekend before, which I'd planned without accounting for the eclipse. A friend of mine had invited me to join them and some other friends on a trip to Canada that weekend to see the eclipse, but, well, a second trip, just a week after? Eh, I wasn't really feeling up to it and didn't join in.So I figured I would just see the partial eclipse here from New York City. I mean, a partial eclipse is still cool, right? I'd seen the one in 2017 from Michigan, and, wow, that was certainly something!
Then, Sunday night, I get a message from Yanan. Hey, she says, you want to come with me and some friends on a road trip to upstate New York to see the total eclipse? It'd be a day trip. I'm like, OK, when and where would we meet up for this? And she tells me 7:30 AM. I'm like, no thanks, that's too early for me. I mean, you know my schedule...
But Yanan asks again, and points out you can sleep in the car y'know, and points out the next big one in the area won't be for another 20 years, and I'm like, y'know what, screw it. A partial eclipse I've seen before, but a total one never; am I really going to miss this chance? To hell with it, I'll stay up all night and sleep in the car so I can come see this total eclipse.
...I did not, in fact, stay up all night, but I only slept 3 hours. Then I got up and headed to Long Island City to meet up with Yanan and the others (including Will, who I hadn't met before, and who would do all the driving for the entire trip, holy crap...)
The trip was a bit of a mess -- but when you consider how unplanned it all was, it was surprisingly little of one. I didn't really realize how long it would be -- well, none of us did, it ended up taking rather longer to get there and get back than Yanan and Will had anticipated -- but I didn't even realize how far we were going. How far? All the way to Lake Champlain! Noblewood Park in Willsboro, NY. The intended time to get there was maybe like 4 and a half hours; it ended up taking 7. And similarly to get back.
Will and Yanan, our expedition leaders, decided to follow Google Maps's suggested route, which meant we ended up taking some roads that were definitely not the most obvious way and had us questioning the route, but, hey, we rarely faced horrific traffic (possibly as a result).
Our first stop was in (actually just outside of) Taghkanic, NY, where we stopped for gas and encountered a Buddhist temple. Huh.
Our second stop was... well, so, one thing about the unusual route was that it had a lot more of the things (winding roads, stoplights) that are likely to make me carsick. I wasn't close to throwing up (although at one point I asked if anyone had a plastic bag, which thankfully Yanan did), but I was not in great condition, so we stopped at the rest stop with the intent of buying some anti-nausea medicine (I hadn't brought any). I was like, will they really sell that there? But people were confident they would. Well, they didn't.
So our next stop was to make a detour to Saratoga Springs, where we stopped at a CVS to get the medicine, and at a deli for lunch -- I ordered a pork schnitzel sandwich, but of course, was in no condition to eat it right then. This was a significant detour and definitely added some time, beyond that from what we stopped for.
Fortunately the medicine eventually worked and I started to feel a lot less sick. It also made me quite sleepy -- when getting it, we got the less-sleep-inducing version, but it still did a lot to help me sleep. Before picking that up I did not in fact sleep in the car at all.
Given the delays (both from me feeling sick and things just taking longer than expected), we were still on the road when the eclipse started. Fortunately there weren't, like, people stopping in the road to see the eclipse or anything -- although we did while on the highway pass by one entrance where lots of people had pulled over to the side to see it. Why that highway entrance specifically, I have no idea. We didn't see this anywhere else. This wasn't even in the zone of totality yet, so you'd think they'd be driving to get there rather than stopping there...
Once we were in the zone of totality, there was some question of whether we should continue to the original planned destination or stop early to make sure we didn't miss totality. This led to some stopping and starting, and I complained, hey, you're going to make me sick again! Ultimately we did continue with the original plan, making it to the park with plenty of time left to catch the total eclipse (and with quite a view of Vermont across the lake).
So yeah! Total eclipse! First time seeing that... quite something. One thing I didn't realize, I thought that with the sun blocked out it was going to be, like, night. Not so; it only really got, like, evening-level dark. Like, even though we were out in the middle of nowhere, where the stars would certainly be visible at night (they were on the trip back), they weren't during the eclipse. Well, one was, but that's it.
Anyway, yeah, glad I went out there rather than just seeing a partial eclipse a second time!
Quite a few other people had come to the same park, actually... and not just other people from the town nearby, we talked to some other people who had come about as far as we had. Also, there was an adorable baby! Eventually Will was like, OK, we gotta go if we want to get back at a reasonable time (the eclipse hadn't actually yet ended at this point), so we got back in the car for the return trip. (Also, after totality, I finally started eating my schnitzel sandwich.)
I slept through a lot of the return trip, so I can't say a lot about it. We stopped for a while in Lee Park in Westport, NY so one of us could call someone as they'd scheduled. There were some neat birds there! I mean, OK, mostly just seagulls and Canada geese. But also a big black bird flew by that might have been a coromorant, and another one that maybe was the same one but looked like a different bird (not a cormorant) to me, and some small ones that flew by quickly and I couldn't identify. Also, there was a cool spider, but it vanished before I could get a picture of it. I ate the rest of my sandwich there.
We also detoured to Saratoga Springs again on the way back, this time to get dinner. We went to some Spanish restaurant; I didn't eat a lot because I'd only just eaten my sandwich, but it was pretty good!
I guess the one other notable thing that happened on the way back was our next attempt to stop for gas -- I'm not sure where it was. We stopped at a gas station only for Will to find that the machine wouldn't let him pay. We went to go inside to the store to ask for help, but the store was closed and the door locked. But there was still someone inside, cleaning up -- we got his attention, but he was just like, we're closed. But we were like, no, we're not here for the store, we're here about a problem with the gas! It took a while but finally he came out... and told us, no, it's not just the store, the whole gas station's closed. Which was pretty frustrating, as absolutely nothing indicated that it was closed! The signs were on and everything. Annoying!
He pointed the way to another one which was open, although on the way we made the mistake of trying another one that happened to be closed while looking completely open. And then we passed by a third closed one (just before the open one) and had the good sense to just skip that one. Oy.
Eventually we made it back to New York City, at like 2 AM, definitely later than intended, and like an hour after that I made it home... hoo boy. I slept until 2 PM the next day and it still wasn't nearly enough! (I couldn't sleep in any longer, I had a doctor's appointment to go to.) It wasn't until Tuesday night that I finally slept enough. (And it was Will who did all the driving, hope he slept well!)
So yeah, Yanan's impromptu eclipse trip! Definitely not doing that again, but hey, I got to see a total eclipse finally...
-Harry
