Worked from home today and went for a #bikeride during lunch as it was a beautiful warm and sunny day.
Some big changes were announced at work while I was on vacation. Learned about them when I got back to work yesterday. Still have my job but, I’ll be reporting to a different person. This should not change anything about my work but, will miss interacting with my old boss. He is a great guy and we have worked here for almost the same number of years.
Driving around Scottish highlands on almost empty roads was the highlight of this trip. Can’t imagine how busy it probably is in Summers. Glad we picked this time for our trip - advantage of being empty nesters.
Having a gin and tonic with breakfast at the airport lounge in Edinburgh. Last bit of fun as this vacation winds down.
Had a great week traveling around in Scotland. It was good to meet our daughter and know that she is doing well with her semester abroad experience. Time to go home today and get back to reality. 😐
Had a nice visit to Glenmorangie distillery today. Learned a lot about how single malt scotch whiskies are made. Tasted the two in the last photo. They were delicious.
This is our day 5 in Scotland and we have seen very little rain; that too only in the nights. The days have been sunny with bright blue skies. I guess I should buy a lottery ticket. 😄
Within one month, we have visited 2 monuments to lost battles. The Alamo in San Antonio and Culloden Battlefield near Inverness in Scotland. 🏴
Driving from Edinburgh to Inverness was one of the most stressful driving experiences ever. It was pitch dark, raining at times and there were very few cars/trucks on the road. There was construction and the road kept switching from a proper 2 lane divided highway to a single lane undivided road and back. The road signs were unfamiliar and I was driving on the LEFT side of the road. Total white knuckle driving! Thankfully, made it safely in about three and half hours.
Full Scottish breakfast this morning. Eating haggis and black pudding for the first time. I like it!
First day in Edinburgh turned out to be sunny and quite nice! Sunday roast for dinner at the Queen’s arms.
The pier at my neighboring town of New London is the staging ground for off-shore wind turbines that are getting installed nearby off the shore of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and beyond. These machines are so massive! Saw some parts of them today while driving by. I should stop and take some photos.
Went for a bike ride on Mohawk Hudson bikeway with Manoj adding to our streak of riding together by one more year.
Chased diminishing sunlight on the bike ride this evening. Had a shitty day at work and really needed this ride. It turned out to be a beautiful one!!!
🏏 What an exciting match between Pakistan and South Africa!!! Finally, a match going to the wire after 28 one-sided ones. Pakistan going home empty-handed this time.
Annular solar eclipse 2023 - first empty nester trip
When we watched the total solar eclipse in 2017, I knew the next one was going to be in April 2024 and was excited about it as it will be visible from close to home. Sometime in 2021, when I read about the Annular eclipse in October 2023, I wanted to go watch it but, thought that it was going to be impossible. October is when schools are back in session and kids activities are going at full throttle. Then it dawned on me that in October 2023, I don’t have to think about all these things as my son will be at college and we will be empty nesters.
A few months ago, we started planning our first empty nester trip. Driving to this event was too far and as we started looking at possible airfares and travel time, San Antonio won over Albuquerque. After taking a 6:10am flight (which meant leaving home at 3:30am), we reached San Antonio by lunch time. After some sumptuous Tex-Mex food at Market Square, we searched for a possible eclipse viewing site for the following day. The long barracks at the Alamo seemed to fit the bill. Nice open area with the proper clearing to view the entire eclipse. Planned to get there early enough to beat the crowds and to allow enough time for setting up the equipment.
On the morning of the eclipse, we decided to have breakfast at the oldest restaurant in San Antonio called Schilo’s. Because of a little snafu with my omelet order, it took a long time for getting our food. I was getting concerned about finding a good spot for viewing but, we reached the Alamo well ahead of time. Just as I got everything setup, the clouds thickened. It looked like all the efforts of making the trip were going to be wasted and we won’t be able to see the eclipse. Thankfully, within 30-40 minutes, the clouds started to break up and although we missed the start of the eclipse, we were able to see it till the end. Some of the early shots with clouds were quite dramatic.
Of course the total annularity was spectacular. It lasted for more than 4 minutes. This is the first time I experienced it and probably will be the only time in my life.
I have posted some composite images of the eclipse earlier and also made a 12 second time-lapse video from images taken over 9 minutes or so around total annularity.
One more nice thing happened during this trip. I got to meet with @pratik in person. He drove down to San Antonio from Austin with his family to meet us for lunch. I have known him for almost 20 years through various interactions/platforms on the internet but had never met him in person.
Overall, the trip worked out nicely. Now I am looking forward to viewing the next Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024.