The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

Taking advantage of gorgeous views and challenging terrain, the Lake Tahoe Marathon Weekend has a little something for everyone.

The weekend features not just a marathon, but your choice of three marathons (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), or for endurance junkies, the option to do all 3 (The Tahoe Triple). Same goes for the half marathon (The Trifecta) and the ultra (The Triple Dare): 72 miles all the way around Lake Tahoe!

... And yes, someone did run the full 216.6 miles in three days (46 hours 27 minutes). See Rob Carter's finish video.

For the rest of us with more modest goals, the menu of events included duathlon, 10k, 5k, kids superhero run, and a number of aquatic events. There were kayak and paddle board races, and open water swim races.

I felt a little greedy looking at all the events to register for, but in the end I opted for the 2 mile swim as one of the more unique choices.


Posted by Kimberly 09/16/2014

After packing some camping gear on his bicycle and hitching a ride to British Columbia, Nik spent part of this summer riding his bicycle from Canada to California.

Nik still lives in Santa Cruz, where he spends time playing beach volleyball and going to school at Cabrillo College.
Posted by Dan 08/15/2007

Aaaalllriiight. It's been a while, eh? I've moved around a bit since the last time I wrote... I bet a lot of you didn't know that I've spent the last month in Europe. Well I did. At the end of July, I bought a last minute, on-a-whim ticket to London, and I've since spent a few weeks in Edinburgh, Scotland and a few weeks in France.

I haven't spent extended periods of time on the internet, so I've never gotten around to writing a blog about it all. But it's been quite an experience! I don't really know how to summarize the last month in this blog entry, nor do I have the energy to take on such a task, but I figure everyone likes looking at pictures, right?

So see the link to my photo album of England, Scotland, and France. Enjoy!

Me goofing around at the Eiffel Tower

My itinerary of the last month has looked like this:

• 1 night: London
  
• 2 weeks: Edinburgh, Scotland, with a 2-day trip to the Highlands
  
• 1 1/2 weeks: French countryside
  
• 1 week: Paris
  
• Currently, I have 1 1/2 weeks left in France, and I'm hoping to spend it in Bordeaux, where I have a couple friends I'm hoping to meet up with.

In 1 1/2 weeks, I catch a flight out of Paris to Bangkok, Thailand to meet up with Nik (my brother, for those of you unfamiliar with the family). Nik and I will then spend the next few months adventuring around SE Asia, eating great food, staying in bungalows on beautiful islands, lazing about in hammocks, doing some SCUBA diving, finding some great rock-climbing, and pretty much just living the life... for cheap! Yay!

So there you have it. If that update didn't suffice, feel free to email me! I'd much rather tell you more about it personally than sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the last 5 weeks for the general audience.

Posted by Whitney 08/24/2008, revised 08/24/2008