HO3-- WEEK 8

Total Solar Eclipse at Stuhr Museum
(first photo is not edited - that was the view with the eclipse glasses during totality!)

Pentatonix @ the Nebraska State Fair

This week..

-- was packed with fun! Grand Island fell in the path of totality for the total solar eclipse - so we joined thousands of other people from all over the world on the local museum grounds to watch the event. They opened hundreds of acres of land to everyone for viewing and had an area set up with food trucks and special presentations. NASA was also there launching weather balloons for monitoring. We found a partially-isolated spot in the prairie for our chairs and blanket. The weather was perfect - there were a few clouds but they did not obstruct the view. We wore the appropriate glasses and were both surprised how it seemed to stay totally bright out until the total eclipse. The light then quickly faded to twilight and the crowd all gasped and cheered. We had almost two minutes of twilight with planets visible, a 360 degree sunset on the horizon, a brisk decrease in temperature, and lots of crickets chirping! The sunlight then spread back across the sky over seconds-minutes in what looked like an accelerate sunrise. It was a beautiful event to witness! We spoke with travelers from as far as Norway and many from surrounding states such as Minnesota. We were lucky we only had to travel a few blocks from home (though that did take 45 minutes in all the traffic!).
-- another highlight of the week was the Pentatonix concert at the State Fair! One of my fellow acapella friends from high school (she was also my college roommate!) snagged us tickets when they first went on sale this winter and they did not disappoint! We spent all day livin' it up at the fair (so many rounds of fried food! motorcycles! bmx! high-diving! volleyball! llamas! livestock!) and ended the night with the concert. Us the Duo opened for them and then Pentatonix played a 1.5 hour set. The crowd was pretty electric which led to an even better show! After we wound our way out of the parking lot and a few blocks down the street to our townhouse in Grand Island, we bailed to Holdrege to spend the night. Our friends spoiled us by cooking us pancakes + eggs + bacon for breakfast and we spent the morning chilling out on the front porch. We don't get to see these friends enough since moving from Omaha! What a treat!
-- we were also at the State Fair on Friday night with my coworkers for the Draft Horse Show. It really is impressive to see these giant work horses and the strict obedience they have for their owners. They not only compete in many different hitch arrangements, they always have a professional demonstration that is seriously amazing. Theses animals can work in nearly perfect synchronization and precision. We ended the night by hanging out with friends outside the concert grounds during Brad Paisley's set (we were about 100 yards from stage right and had a perfect view of him on stage!). I think we've had our fix of food truck/fair food for a while!

xo,
Krista