April 14: Halfway Through April!

We didn't do much for Easter this year except take a nice hike up the back of Flagstaff to Inspiration Point.  It's an uphill climb of about a mile which ends at a scenic overlook off of Flagstaff road.  Here's a photo I took of Rei when we drove up there a month or so ago, so you can seen the excellent view of Boulder from the heights.  

Our hike took us to this viewpoint and then we turned around and walked back down to our house. Gotta love a hike which doesn't involve a car! 

Here's a photo I took from beyondboulder.com to give you an idea of the trail.  You can see why I was glad that I've been doing so much leg work in the gym.  The extra strength came in handy on these uphill stretches.  

Beyondboulder.com

Turbo got a full groom just in time for the holiday and the groomer sent us this cute photo

Don't think that because it's April that we're out of our wintery weather.  Oh, no, it'll just slip in and out for the next few weeks.  One day was a pretty good weather-wise until it started to rain.  It quickly turned into a wintery mix, covering the ground with a thin layer of icy stuff which at least looked pretty for a short time.  Then it just melted away and was gone.  Springtime weather is always interesting.  

For the full solar eclipse on April 8 I met my sister, Jean, in Little Rock Arkansas, which was in the direct path and promised totality for three minutes.  And we got it!  It's so impressive how darkness falls in the course of the last ten minutes or so of the moon's path, and it got really dark around the minor league ball park that we sat in.

A ball park isn't a bad place to hang out for an eclipse.  You have seats, bathrooms and food, and an announcer counting down to the big moment.  I'm happy to say that during totality itself the announcer fell silent, and we all got to feel the awesomeness of the event without his commentary.  

We went to Arkansas in order to tick it off our "Fifty states" list.  Now we have just one more, North Dakota, which we'll visit in July.  

Little Rock had several sites worth visiting, including the Bill Clinton Presidential Library, the Old State House Museum, and the Little Rock Central High School, known for the struggle to integrate it in 1957.  The National Park Service has a visitor's center across the street with exhibits which give an excellent introduction to the event and a walking tour over to the school itself. 

The city has made good use of the Arkansas river which flows through it, maintaining the old bridges for bike and pedestrian use and creating several recreational areas along the banks.

It's supposed to rain later in the week, which is more exciting than you would think since we could use some rain.  But today is going to be lovely.  I've already had Turbo out and plan to work in my studio while Ben goes hiking.  It's been awhile and I'm looking forward to it!