Chester survives the eclipse

Yes, we survived. Cleveland was straight in the path of totality so it looked like this:

It was phenomenal! But first, let’s do a prequel…

Our daughter and son-in-law are moving from NYC to Portland. Oregon that is. This was a relatively sudden decision that caused excitement, envy, and sadness in me all at once. At least in Brooklyn we could drive to visit and they could drive back. Since the difficulty factor was rising, we decided to go to Brooklyn to visit them one last time before they move. Chester signed in at Camp Bow-Wow, met up with his dog buddies, and we were off.

The drive was no problem at all despite dire warnings of traffic jams. The media seemed to think that everyone in the western half of the USA was driving to Cleveland for the eclipse. This did not occur. We also had warnings to stock up on water. Yes, supposedly the eclipse was going to do something to the water. I think they confused it with COVID. Spoiler alert, the water was fine.

The kids had a going away party and we spent lots of good time visiting. It was just great until…

I was sitting/lying in the hotel room when the whole hotel shook. It shook longer than it would if a big truck drove by. I sat up and asked my husband, “What the heck was that?” He thought someone was engaging in construction. We knew it wasn’t anyone fixing the potholes. Duh.  People wandered out into the street (they always wander in the streets, but this was different). It was so weird because nobody knew what it was. We didn’t get an alarm on our phones for quite a while. Our daughter texted, “Whoa, earthquake!” Everyone in the street went back to work. Apparently it was a 4.8 earthquake. Welcome to New York, right?

Here is what you are supposed to do if you are in an earthquake.

I don’t know what the bottom row says, as this was cut off. I’m worried about the middle guy. Plus I’m afraid that is something we should do and I’m not going to know. We were a little calmer than the middle left people seem to be. The lower right seems to be a “Night of the Living Dead” incident.

I have a love-hate relationship with NYC. Our son will still be there, so we will go back but honestly we’ve been visiting there since 2011 and I swear we’ve gotten a parking ticket every single time…except this one. We finally figured it out I guess.

We drove back home, picking up Chester on the way. We had to get ready for the big eclipse! I’m sure just about everyone had some coverage of the eclipse but honestly it was way cooler than I had imagined. I was impressed by the whole thing. The sun and moon did a good job lining up so I guess we’ll keep them. Seriously, it was indescribable except to say I feel kind of small after these two earth events. Chester? He wasn’t too happy. He looked worried when it got dark and the birds stopped chirping. He sat by us then wanted to go in.

The weather here has been mercurial, here is a picture of our crocuses, then below is (I kid you not) two hours later! Today is in the 70s. Go figure.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, and the past 4 or 5 or more weekends. I am going to try to post more often. My sister called me on it, saying she thought she had missed a Chester post. I sheepishly said she didn’t, it was just me. Sorry friends! I’ll step it up!