Today we traveled to Dallas to watch the eclipse. I’ve been looking foward to this trip for a long time now, probably 16 years or so. I remember sitting in the auditorium at NASA learning about the so-called “Great American Eclipse” that was going to occur in 2024. It seemed like a lifetime away, but I added it to my Google Calendar. Fast forward to a different life and about six months ago I booked flights, hotel, and rental car for the four of us. We had all been together in St. Louis along the line of totality in 2017 to see the last eclipse. The kids were small and don’t remember much other than glimpses and echos. This time will hopefully be different.
The “little” one made all the travel plans and picked out the places to go. Sadly, our very first flight out was delayed due to … something. Due to my obsession with getting to airports excessively early we were able to rebook a completely different route out, requiring us to travel to Vegas then on to Dallas. It gets us in about 5 hours later than hoped so we’ll have to adjust the well-made plans. But it’s all good.
I write this somewhere over the western Rockies I think. I have big man next to me. He’s been reading the Ender series and just completed page two of his journal of this trip. He’s super excited every time he fills a page :) And he still harasses me about that Bald Eagle…lmao.
Las Vegas airport is exactly as expected. lmao. Video slots everywhere and terrible airport food. At least there are a lot of outlets near the seats. I didn’t expect that you’d be able to see the hotels of the Strip from the airport. Sadly there weren’t any great views, but you could see Luxor and New York, New York.
The flight to Dallas was really full. Little Monkey ended up having to sit by herself but she found a friend about her age to sit next to and got a window. She did a great job. We went through a bunch of enjoyable turbulence on the final approach and landed without incident. A short bus ride to the car rental place and then a drive across town and we were at the hotel.