Kingfisher: Eclipse 2017

Dang, I must have really been slacking to not have posted about the ABSOLUTELY EPIC Kingfisher trip last year. Holy Moley! No bigs, I guess: it was only the year of the TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE. Oh yeah, and our campsite happened to be in the IDEAL PLACE TO VIEW IT.

Okay. Sorry about that. Enough with the all caps shouting. But it was SUPER EXCITING. Plus, regular Kingfisher camping goodness.

Breakfast being prepared.

Sophie and Suzanne rafting on the river.

The new best friends prepare to dunk in the icy waters.

Drying off after an ice-cold plunge.

Elizabeth and Max (the blonde in this picture) played an awful lot of the board game Settlers of Catan. In fact, one day the two of them played the game for six hours straight. They ended up using forest detritus as playing pieces to keep the game going.

Daddy cooking one of the only things he knows how to cook: bacon.

Chillin' with (L-R) Shelly, Noah, Teresa, me, Charlie.

The whole big group gathered, waiting for the eclipse.

Suzanne's mind has been BLOWN!

This legitimately had me questioning my sanity. The shadows changed. I didn't think they would, or could. But they did. When the sun was in eclipse, the shadows became crescent-shaped. It was very freaky. It was the kind of thing that a good science-fiction writer would describe, consequently blowing my mind. This is probably straight-up physics or optics or some class you could take as an undergraduate at a half-decent school. Yet, its description would mark you a wizard in my mind. It was really striking to go into the woods and see how different they looked with these shadows.

Elizabeth and Barb checking out the natural phenomenon.

The Kingfisher Crew preparing to witness the event.

Sophie and Suzanne. Not sure why Suzanne is looking so grumpy, except maybe she didn't want Dad hanging around. I came down when it was almost pitch black because I was afraid she'd fall of the log. Which was dumb. As her face suggests.

After the eclipse, things went back to normal. Normal is awesome.

Elizabeth took this picture. She ran wild with the camera, as kids are wont to do, and took a lot of bad pictures.But I think she knocked it out of the park with this one. Barb looks as she is: capable and beautiful.