Exploring the USA and Europe

SHORT TRIP to the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK by Naimul Karim (originally posted on  naimul.net ) Christine had planned our solar eclipse trip well.  Lincoln, NE is already halfway between the Twin Cities and Colorado.  Why not keep going west, and do some hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park before returning home?  This turned out to be a very wise decision.  As we traveled west on Interstate 80 toward Denver, others went east.  They were headed home in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; all eager to arrive in time to go to work the next morning.  Not surprisingly, the traffic was a mess.  In contrast, we had a mostly deserted highway, albeit through a somewhat monotonous Nebraska plain.  We took it easy, making an overnight stay along the way, and arriving the next day early afternoon at Estes Park, CO.  Estes Park is a small town right at the border of Rocky Mountain National Park.   We checked out the park right away, entering at Beaver Meadows Visitor Center.  It was already late

The sun had long made its appearance.  It was the moon that we were waiting for.  Then up in the heavens, they were going to have their celestial rendezvous.  And down here, at the Tierra Briarhurst Park, a handful of earthlings had gathered to bear witness. Just a day earlier we had driven from Minnesota to Lincoln, NE to meet up with our friends Judy and Merle from Wisconsin.  Lincoln was the closest town in the path of the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017.   Earlier in the morning, in the dining hall of Hampton Inn, I had seen groups huddled together deciding where to go.  Most of them were going to a big event just outside of Lincoln, with several NASA astronauts and other experts, complete with all the hoopla of a mass event.  They seemed somewhat stressed out about traffic jams and parking.  Why would I want that kind of headache?   Then there was the thing with clouds – some potentially coming our way.  I learned that some hardcore had already left for Missouri long before