parkrun tourism: Dundalk

Posted on September 24, 2017 by lindaharley

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Number 181, number 43 in my quest to reach 50 different events (half Cowell), and most importantly, the final letter in my spelling of DANCER!

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Access:

From my house in Lisburn, this is less than an hour away.  Down the N1/M1, off at Junction 16, turn left at the traffic lights before the Crowne Plaza, and the Dundalk Institute of Technology is on your right.  It is helpfully marked by brown signs all the way in from the motorway.

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Facilities:

On a Saturday, there’s loads of car parking available!  The course starts near the big wind turbine, so head for that and find a spot.

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There are toilets (and indeed changing rooms with showers!) on site.

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Tea is only provided once a month, but there’s a handy service station across the road which has a cafe and shop (and where I bought Minnie a Jumbone afterwards).  Start and finish are close, though not exactly the same spot, and there’s a tree that runners adorn with their bags and belongings. On the finish stretch, you have to tantalisingly pass the actual finish funnel before rounding the turn point.

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Course:

It’s not the most scenic of courses, being 3 laps of the playing fields with a bit added on to start and finish.  But it’s pretty flat – there’s a very small incline on one side of the fields, but you’d barely notice it.

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The surface is mostly tarmac-ish, and it’s quite narrow.  Being a 3 lap course, it’s likely you’ll be lapped by the front runners during lap 2, but will have a nice bit of space on lap 3.  There was good marshalling at every corner, and I made a point of counting the final marshall to keep track of my laps.

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Crowd:

Average numbers are about 100, with a good range of times.  I got chatting to an Irish dancer called Ann before the run, and there was a friendly welcome from all.

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Gear:

I’m having Garmin troubles, so I used MapMyRun as a backup (only to discover later that it hadn’t worked). My headphones are kaput so I was running without music.  Which did allow for a few more conversations – Minnie aways attracts “cheating” comments, and I point out that it’s a free weekly timed run, not a race!  My comedy 150 red shirt was a conversation starter, and as I overtook a couple of youngsters they wondered what happend if the doggie pooped.  I was able to reply that I would stop and pick it up – I always carry at least 2 bags!

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Time:

My running form isn’t the best at the minute, and I was aiming for 29ish, which I acheived.  Considering I had to stop and tie a shoelace even before reaching the turning point for the first time (ie about 50m), that’ll do.

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And the rest:

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This was a super special run for me, as it was the final run in my parkrunDANCER project.

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All my parkruns:

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NI (and other) parkruns: summary list

 

 

Filed under: Parkrun, parkrunDANCER, running | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

parkrunDANCER

Posted on September 23, 2017 by lindaharley

I was inspired by a member of parkrun tourists UK, who had enjoyed an ice cream after each parkrun, often a cornetto.  And who posted photos, often with the hashtag #parkruncornetto.  Even though his mates teased him about this being a “thing”!

And so he decided to run a series of parkruns that would spell out “parkruncornetto”.  And when he had accomplaished this, his mates presented him with a T shirt suitably emblazoned with “#parkruncornetto – it’s a thing!”

Heading into summer 2017, I knew I was visiting Scotland, and the United States.  So I looked at the parkruns I might be able to visit during those trips, as well as some near events that had missing letters of my alphabet.  This gave me Edinburgh,  Crissy Field (in San Fran) and Navan.  With a bit of creative thinking I could see that I could spell, using other locally available letters, DANCER.  I’ve been a dancer all my life, with a core of ballet, but also incorporating tap, salsa, and line dancing, and most recently have thrown my devotion to Sottish Country Dancing, where I’m hoping to become a qualified teacher.

Sooooooo…offf we went. In order to have the word read correctly on event history, they have to be run in reverse order.  So first up was local run Rostrevor!  I’d run it before at Christmas time, but didn’t manage to beat my previous time.  But I did meet a guy who asked “Were you on a double decker bus 30 years ago?” who turned out to be  BBC film maker who interviewed me and Ronan….

Loved Edinburgh, took the slow coach bus down from St Andrews along the Fife coast, just magical.  My E for Emily girl, who I found in the new runners briefing, went on to be second lady!

I found the waiting, the gap bewteen letters, to be enoormously frustrating.  I did a bit of volunteering at my home run, Wallace, but getting out of the routine of Saturday means parkrun was discombobulating.

Off to the States for our super dooper trip that we’d been planning for years, including running Crissy Field parkrun in San Fran.  Which I learned, 2 days before, had been cancelled!  aaargh, but hey ho, and I could re-schedule…..

Back in NI, I’d toyed with running my NENYD at Castleblayney, but a Saturday dancing lunchtime committment and a callout from Carrickferus for a VI guide changed my plans, and I was delighted to accompany Pete putting into practice my Guide Dogs training.

Navan was as planned, and had a realy great time running with them.

I knew I’d be in London to see my son working on Evitia – had originally planned Dulwich but that had to be changed to the only A in London – Ally Pally!

And oh my goodness, the last bit of the jigsaw – D and my nearest one is Dundalk!

Dundalk…Done Dancer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Parkrun, running | Tagged: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Eclipse Trip 4: San Francisco

Posted on September 20, 2017 by lindaharley

Thursday

For my final breakfast on board I opt for the signature dish of French Toast, which is rather good.  I spend most of the morning in the Sightseer Lounge, while we glide through canyons and along the Colorado River.  Here, people messing about on the river greet the train in their own special fashion, earning it the nickname “Moon River”.

There’s a 10 minute stop at Reno.  We reckoned that was so that couples who had been together 24/7 from Chicago could get a quickie divorce.   For lunch I tried the veggie burger, which was rather tasty.

We arrived at Emeryville, a transport hub on the edge of  San Fran at 4, and didn’t have to wait too long for the bus transfer.  We alighted at the Financial District drop off point,  and took a  taxi to Bush St, where we were staying at the  Grant Hotel, just north of Union Square.

The room was a decent size, but had a potentially treacherous step up into the bathroom.  Causing me to call out “Step!!!!” anytime R went to the loo in the night.  Our first night’s aimless wandering took us to Chinatown where we enjoyed a rather large meal for 2 special.

The walk home was a bit trickier – whilst the city is still on a grid system, there’s no indication of where the really steep hills are.  But we found that the little Kwik-e-mart on the corner does booze.

Friday

The breakfast in hotel is very spartan. There’s no milk for tea, not even in wee plastic jiggers.  There are pastries and croissants, but no butter or jam.  Or cutlery.

I’d researched the various ho-ho bus options, and chose City Sightseeing, as it included a Sausolito tour across the Golden Gate, and an evening tour. (The other companies were offering guided walking tours, which after last night’s steep hills experience I wasn’t prepared to risk).

On our first circuit on the bus, we learned the reason for Crissy Field cancellation – an alt-right free speech rally, which of course prompted much outraged protest rallies to be arranged.  Trump you’ve gone too far this time, messing with a parkrunner’s tourism plans!  The bridge itself is shrouded in mist, and we learned that this month is known as “Fog-ust”.

At Pier 39 we were delighted to watch the sealions at play, and checked various transport details at the visitor centre.  Trams and buses $2.75, payable to driver, cable cars $7.  A MUNI pass is good if you’re there for a few days, but we’d already gone for a 2 day bus pass.  I had lunch of traditional clam chowder served  in a sourdough bowl overlooking the bay.

In the evening, we’d booked the “Alcataz by night” tour – these sell out months in advance, so it’s worth booking online beforehand.  There is no booze allowed to be sold on the boat out, and none on the island.  It is chilling, in every sense.  The island is cool and foggy, and the cells suitably spine-tingly.  We had an audio guided tour narrated by former inmates and warders, and learnt of the various escape attempts.

R had a hot dog on the boat home, while I was ready for a glass of vino, and I got some humous from the Kwik-e-mart for supper.

Saturday

No parkun, boooooooo!

We treated ourselves to a fantastic brunch in the little diner on the next corner.

We got back on our City Sightseeing Tour, which was a bit detoured by all the protest and counter-protest shenanigans, and to our dismay find that it isn’t doing the Sausolito Tour.

They could’ve said earlier!  And I should’ve read the reviews on Trip Advisor.  We got off instead at Golden Gate park in the midst of a marijuana festival.  We weren’t too clear where the boarding point is, as these bus tours aren’t allowed to have anything useful like signs, but we made it back to hotel.  We took tram back  to fishermans wharf, where we intended to take the night tour, only to find that we’d missed the last one.  Again, I’m appalled by the lack of communication.  We took the tram back to the hotel, and I had a really lovely sushi roll in the place next to the hotel.

Sunday

We’d booked a hire car from the place across the road from the hotel.  Not just any old hire car, a Ford Mustang convertible, which we’d had visions of driving down Highway 1 in by the ocean, warm breezes in our hair.  After the compulsory argument with the  Sat nav  we escaped the city’s gravitational pull, and got onto Highway 1.  Sadly, Fog-ust extends down the coast, and we saw precious little in the way of surf or beaches, nor could we put the roof of the car down.

We stopped at Half Moon Bay for brunch, where I had Califormia Bendict.  This means it had avocado in it.  On to Santa Cruz, where R was meeting a biking chum, who he’d only ever previously engaged with online.

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We came back to the city via the Big Basin redwoods which are stunning, though the  teeny winding roads were a bit hairy.  Having successfully returned the car before closing time, we had a fabulous  dinner in Del Populo of eggplant salad and pizza, chatting to UK tourists sitting beside us.

Monday

Crissy Field is not the easiest place to get to, so we took an Uber to get there so I could do a freedom parkrun.

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It’s always hard running solo,  and I had to conjure up imaginary cheering marshalls.  There were still some chalk markings visible,  left by counter proterstors.

It’s compulsory to take a cable car ride, but these can be hard to actually board as they are always full.

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Most people queue at the end points and no-one gets off, so it’s pointless waiting at any other stop.

At Fisherman’s Wharf we had lunch at Cioppino’s – scampi aurora and a free cup of clam chowder.   We enjoyed a potter around the Musee Mechanique, where I got a mechanical fortune teller to tell me my fate.  I have have set myself rather a high goal, apparently, which I will surely reach!

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I took a quick visit to the Giardhelli chocolate shop.  We took the  cable car back down Powell, and opted for dinner at the pizza place across the road.  These served very odd antipasto, and an even odder carafe of wine which was only a fiver.

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Tuesday

On our last day, we had brunch at Lori’s Diner, which was really cute, with a vintage car as part of the décor.  R bid farewell to the super-duper Apple store, and we took a taxi out to the airport.  Our tickets said Terminal TI, which we read as “one” but really it was “I for International”.  Aer Lingus were as efficient and pleasant as I’ve always found them to be, and we had a hassle free journey home, even managing some sleep on the plane.

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I would go back to San Fran: as a bridge aficionado, it was disappointing not to see the Golden Gate, and of course I shall have to do Crissy Field properly!

Even Tony Bennett left his heart here.

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Filed under: California Zephyr, Eclipses, San Francisco, travel | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »

parkrun tourism: Ally Pally

Posted on September 17, 2017 by lindaharley

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Event number 42 (for all you Hitchhiker fans), parkrun number number 180 (said in darts commentator voice) and putting the A in DANCER.

Access:

There’s plenty of parking in and around Alexandra Palace.  I walked from a lovely Air BnB nearby, and the W3 bus goes through the grounds.  There’s a nearby railway station, and the closest tube station is Wood Green.

Facilities:

There are loos in the ice rink and in the Phoenix cafe.  We enjoyed coffee and sausage rolls afterwards in the Palm Court bit of the main bulding, but there’s some refreshements available at the ice rink also.

Course:

It’s 2 big laps with a start and finish section.  Start and finish are in the same place, so you can leave bags and belongings there.  The terrain is very varied, from tarmac, to gravel, to grass, and a steep muddy incline!  Not the easiest, but the views over London are just spectacular.

Crowd:

I was impressed at the number of young people here – a confident young man effectively delivered the first timers briefing, there were lots of teenage marshalls giving cheering support along the way, and I was in awe of young Georgia in her white 10 shirt, sharing motivational chat with her Mum all the way round, and managing a brilliant sprint finish. I got chatting afterwards to a 250 shirter called Liberty, who was really friendly, and there was a warm welcome from the RD and team. Numbers are usually in the 200s.

Gear:

I always travel in my second best trainers, and these were a good choice for the sometimes slippery surface.  My Garmin worked OK, but its clippy lead has disintegrated.  My headphones worked for half the yodelling song from Eurovision 2016, but then refused to behave at all. I wore my apricot Wallace top.

Strangely Appropriate Song on Shuffle:

No headphones so no shuffle.  But my earworm was a country song called “What Ifs”, and I distracted myself by trying to remember all the lyrics.

Time:

Tough course, no Minnie, no music, and I stopped to take photos en route.  So 36 something. Bleurgh, it can only improve. I did manage my signature skip-change step over the finish line.

Sticky letter:

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I’ve been trying to get someone appropriate to stick each letter of DANCER as I run them, and what better than an actual p’feshnil dancer to do the honours!  Jemima also took plenty of great action photos for me.

And the rest….:

I was in town to see Evita, which my son is working on, and what a rare pleasure to have both my children in the same room!

And I finished my Saturday with a bit of dancing at the RSCDS London Branch dance, where it was lovely to catch up with old friends, and make some new ones.

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All my parkruns:

all the parkruns I’ve completed

 

 

 

Filed under: Dance, London, Musicals, Parkrun, running, Scottish Country Dance | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Eclipse Trip 3: Grand Junction

Posted on September 14, 2017 by lindaharley

If it’s Tuesday this must be Denver.

 

After the very late boarding of the train in Lincoln, I woke in need of a decent breakfast, and joined the queue of people waiting to be put on a list.  It’s amusing to be seated with total strangers, and to compare plans and journeys so far.  My breakfast companion was a woman who lived in Glenwood Springs, and had travelled on this train many times.  We went for the creole eggs meal, which was tasty, though I wasn’t so keen on the grits.

There was a fair bit of shifting and shuffling at Denver.  I learned later that this is a switchover point for the track providers from BNSF to UP.  We were still running a couple of hours later, although there is a planned stop of 1 hour here, which was reduced to 15 minutes.

Coming out of the Mile High city, and the scenery really starts to get interesting.  To climb up into the mountains, the train takes a number of S bends, and the view back down over Denver was impressive.  We then began to travel though a series of tunnels, including the famous 6 mile long Moffat Tunnel, and the views each time we emerged were stunning.

Conversations with fellow passengers centered around the eclipse. For many, it had been their first experience, and I was impressing people with “it’s my 3rd total, plus a failed attempt to see an annular in Iceland” story, until I met someone for whom it was his 15th eclipse. He and his party had been so concerned by the clouds in Nebraska that they’d hired a plane to take them above.  And they were already planning the next trip to Chile in 2019.  I’m not sure I’ll make that one, though there’s one visible in Spain in 2026 (on Jemima’s birthday!) that might be in my plans.

There’s not too much that a train can do to catch up on lost time.  We were growing concerned about making our next stop in Grand Junction.  The timetabled arrival was 4.30, and we were due to pick up a hire car.  The hire car place closed at 6, and from what I could gather we were running about 2 hours behind schedule.  There’s no wifi on the train, and travelling through these remote regions a phone signal is not always guaranteed either.  When we did get a signal, we couldn’t work out what the USA access code was.  in the end, our wonderful steward Ralph lent us his phone to make the call, and Enterprise GJ were themselves monitoring the eta of the train, which they could see as 5.33.  I guess this is a situation they are all too familiar with!

We were met at the station and taken to the Enterprise offices not too far away, and a very smooth and swift handover process followed (complete with the compulsory oh wow, one day I hope to visit Ireland!).  I drove to our hotel, the Palamino Motel, where we checked in to a large room complete with fridge.  The receptionist recommended the Mexican restaurant a few doors down, and indeed the food was excellent, though far too much.  I saved some prawns, rice and avocado for lunch the next day, making use of our room’s refrigerator.

Getting back to the land of wifi, I checked on Facebook, and to my utter devastation learned that Crissy Field parkrun in San Francisco is cancelled this week.  Having been planning this whole trip for well over a year, and started a project to spell the word DANCER with my summer holiday parkruns, this was a huge disappointment.  But hey, these things happen, and I could still complete my spelling with a bit of rearranging.

Grand Junction is in a very fertile part of Colorado, famous for its fruit (especially peaches) and wine.  Our morning plan was to drive around Colorado National monument, which is a stunning scenic drive with lots of views of canyons and gorges and balancing stones.

 

After a bit of compulsory arguing with the sat nav, we got there, and the radio played Sweet Home Alabama to complete the idyllic picture.

We had our lunch at the Visitor Centre, where I loved seeing the bright blue colours of a pinyin jay.

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We left the hire car back in the early afternoon, dropped our bags at the station, and had a little explore of the town centre.  It’s definitely got a hippy vibe to it, with lots of street art and interesting shops.  We called into a café so I could try some local wine, which I have to say was delicious.  I’m not sure if it’s possible to obtain Colorado wine back home, but I’m going to try!

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The train was only 20 minutes late today, and around 5 pm we boarded along with about 30 others.

I’d been concerned about the train’s dinner reservations issue, as these are given out before 4 pm each day, but had been assured that our cabin steward would sort us out. I was less than impressed by the dining car staff, who said they’d squeeze us in somewhere, which meant it was 8.45 before they were hustling us into place, clearly while trying to get us out as quickly as they could.  We were supposed to get a side salad, which was not offered, and a dessert, which I had to prompt them about.  I do apologise to the people we were sharing a table with, for I was not very good company that evening.  They’d ordered a baked potato, were served mash instead with no explanation or apology. But we were charmed by John in the Lower Lounge of the sightseer, who was terrific company, and worked out how to make Roger a special vodka diet coke.

Back to my ironing board bed for the last night on board.

 

Filed under: California Zephyr, Eclipses, Grand Junction, travel | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

parkrun tourism: Navan

Posted on September 10, 2017 by lindaharley

Event number 41 for me, and elusive letter N to help me spell DANCER.

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Access:

There are helpful sat nav co-ordinates on the course page, and the Facebook page is very responsive to messages, and gave me advice on travel from Da Nort.  Which is basically Slane, Navan, straight across the first roundabout,  right at the traffic lights, and Blackwater Park is about 400m on your left.

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Facilities:

There’s a good number of parking spaces, though I did notice a bit of overflow onto the drive as I was leaving.  A children’s playpark, but no loos.  Just as well I called into the Applegreen on the way!

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Course:

The finish is by the car park, but the start is a wee walk away.  It’s 3 and a bit laps of the park, pretty flat, and a good tarmac surface. Can get a bit congested for the first 400m, so if you’re speedy make sure you’re near the front.  There are nice views towards the town, and it’s a pleasant green park.

Crowd:

I was visiting on their event 99, and they were really looking forward to their 100th.  Average attendance is around 100, and I was the recipient of  lucky token number 50.  Run Director Ken and his team of volunteers were really friendly and welcoming, and even gave me a shout out in the run brief.

Gear:

After I’d paired my headphones, they told me that they needed charged, so I was running with no music.  My Garmin worked well, though I notice that the clip which attaches to the USB port is starting to come loose.  Again.  Hmmmm, if only it were my birthday or something soon……

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Strangely Appropriate Song On Shuffle:

Well I had no music and so no shuffling, but running a 10k the next day I was reminded of my darling son when Owl City and Fireflies came on.

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Time:

I’m still carrying too many kgs and not running enough kms, so my target was to sub-30.  And we actually got a sub 29, thanks to my bestest running chum, Minnie, who was so good during the 90 minute journey each way.

All My parkruns:

parkruns: summary list

minnie at navan

Filed under: Dance, Dogs, Parkrun, running | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Eclipse Trip Part 2: Totality in Nebraska

Posted on September 9, 2017 by lindaharley

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Boarding the California Zephyr at Union Station, Chicago, felt very momentous, but we were a little unnerved to find that when the ticket said “reserved coach” it meant that we had a seat in the coach class carriage.  Any seat.  Not a particular one, just whichever ones we could find free.  This led to a bit of unseemly scrambling, but we were happy enough with the pair we found in the upper deck.  There’s plenty of leg room, and space to store bags.  We had to stay put until the ticket guy had registered our names and assigned them to those seats, after which we were free to move around.  And the first place to move around to was the sight seer lounge.

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This has a variety of seating facing outwards to large windows and a panoramic roof.  Space here is at a real premium, and there’s an element of “towels on the sunloungers”.  However, announcements remind passengers not to hog seats, to vacate them if going to be away for a while, and not to place bags or sweetie wrappers on unused seats.

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There’s a real sense of unhurry, and people take the opportunity to talk to their fellow passengers.  Lots of them had this journey on their “bucket list” of things they must do, and had been planning it for some time.  There were quite a few  Amish and Menonites taking a trip, and of course lots of eclipse chasers.  Having failed to secure eclipse glasses in The Windy City, I was delighted to spot a NASA ambassador from Langley Research Center, who provided us not only with eclipse glasses but many other maps and goodies besides.

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There aren’t an awful lot of announcements given during the actual journey – I was glad I had printed out the detailed Route Guide which gives a paragraph or so about each stop and the area we were traversing.  We did get an announcement when crossing the Mississippi, which is half a mile wide. I was impressed by the  mile-long freight trains carrying coal pass us in the opposite direction.  And we cross from Illinois to Iowa and some point, and from there into Nebraska.

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We would be leaving the train at midnight, so I hadn’t booked a sleeping car for this leg.  Sleeping car tickets include all meals, and so reservations for dinner are offered to those passengers first.  Coach class passengers have to try to get hold of the dining car attendant as they make their way about the train, and Roger was successful in snaffling a dinner reservation, but it is dear ($ 100 for the 2 of us, with drinks).  The tables are in groups of 4, and so you will end up with strangers, who are happy to talk.  We even found an openness about discussing politics, particularly Trump and Brexit, which was refreshing.

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This isn’t the most scenic part of the journey, and anyway it was dark at about 7.  We arrived in Lincoln at half past midnight, and worryingly outside the small station there was  no sign of any cabs and the police are doing something across the road.  Left with no other option, we hired an Uber at $50 to take us to the hotel, about 2 miles away.  I usually avoid booking hotels in the railway district of cities, as they tend to be less salubrious, but we were regretting not having a hotel that we could have walked to.

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Baymont Hotel is fine, but a bit outside the town centre.  And for breakfast you could have biscuits and gravy.  If you like that sort of thing.  Our Sunday morning Uber retraced the journey from the night before, but this time cost only $7.  Like most places, Sunday mornings are quiet but we enjoyed a relaxed mosey around Historic Haymarket which has tried to retain its old buildings, with painted signs, and helpful plaques at each one telling their history.  There are many independent shops, bars and cafes here, and it is a lively enough spot once things open.

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We had lunch at a fabulous burger bar, with the “cry and fry” fried onions and fries side dish,

before paying a visit to the helpful people in the visitor centre, located in the OLD railway station.

 

We had planned to spend eclipse day in Beatrice, but that was one of the sites chosen by NASA to broadcast from, and Bill Nye the science guy would be there.  Along with, of course, thousands of other people.   We were concerned that if we got stuck in traffic we wouldn’t be able to return our hire car in time, though the half past midnight train shouldn’t be an issue.

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The helpful visitor centre staff ordered us a taxi to take us out to the Enterprise car place on the edge of town, where the friendly staff gave us an upgrade to something with a sat nav.  Anytime we said we were from Ireland people’s eyes lit up, and they would tell us about their granny who came from Limerick, or how they wanted to visit Dublin.

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Driving in The States takes a bit of getting used to, especially at junctions, but we made it safely back to the hotel.  There are a few drive through restaurants nearby, and we chose one of those for a Chinese dinner.

Monday

Up early for eclipse day, and an anxious look at the weather forecast. There would be hazy high cloud all day, with little chance of it burning off.  The newsreader reminded people not to try driving whilst wearing eclipse glasses.

We set off for our alternate viewing site at the little town of Crete, where we found a good spot to park near to coffees and loos and the like.  We enjoyed a great breakfast at IMG_2136Sport 9, whose staff were clearly experiencing  a bumper volume of customers, many of whom also wore eclipse T shirts.  During a wander around town, I was charmed by the home made signs about the eclipse, and we were greeted warmly.

One passer by even invited us to join her and her family for lunch down the road.

First contact was at just after 11, and I did my traditional happy clappy dance.  For this part of the eclipse, the high cloud wasn’t a real issue.

Lots of people kept popping out of their shops and business, and putting on their eclipse glasses to look up to the sky.  I spotted a tiny patch of blue sky, and held my breath and crossed my fingers, and sure enough….it reached the sun just immediately before totality.

 

IMG_2140 There was the most beautiful diamond ring, and then a good 2 minutes of corona.  The eerie purple-black darkness gave a spooky feel, and I wondered at the cars driving past with their lights on – did they not even have 2 minutes to spare to stop and enjoy this wonder?  Well, most of the village was out in the streets enjoying it, and when we repaired to Als on Main for lunch, they had just re-opened after being closed for the event.

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I’m always a bit self-critical after these things – should I have gone to Wilber where there was a bigger festival?  Or found somewhere out in the open where we could watch the shadow race across? Or should we have braved the traffic in Beatrice?  But from what I could gather afterwards, the cloud was an issue in Beatrice so it was just as well we didn’t go there.

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On the way home, we followed a brown sign to see a lakeside recreation area.  And then of course, having tried to avoid it, we hit the Beatrice traffic on the Interstate.  But we made it to the hire car place in time, and across the road from it was an enterprising young man selling eclipse T shirts, so I bought one of those.

We then had a 6 hour wait until our train, so we found a good spot in one of the Irish bars and set about making new best friends.  I did manage a quick shopping spree before 6, and got some souvenir Nebraska wine, and some liquorice for an emporium dedicated to that particular sweet.

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One of our new best friends collects old beer cans, and I showed them my parkrun analogue tracker.  They help us with our bags to the station, where we discover that the train is delayed, and it’s nearly 2 am before it arrives.  There are many passengers sprawled around the station and platform, and we are all ready for our beds.

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The sleeping car is small. The lower bunk isn’t too bad, but the upper one is little more than an ironing board, with a webbing strap to stop one falling out.  I have to channel my inner Jack Lemmon and pretend I am in Some Like It Hot before falling in and out of a restless night’s sleep.

 

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Eclipse Trip Part 1: Chicago

Posted on September 3, 2017 by lindaharley

This trip has been years in the planning.  Its origins date back to my first eclipse, in France in 1999, which I watched with cousin David and his wife Karen.  We discovered that the next eclipse in that saros would be on 21 August, 2017, which would be their 30th anniversary.  The path would travel right the way across the United States, making it one of the most accessible eclipses in history.  We would be there, come hell or high water.

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My husband had long wanted to take one of the iconic train journies that go right across the States, and so we looked at the route of the California Zephyr, worked out where it crossed the path of totality, and the bones of our itinerary were formed.

chicago posterPutting together the various components took quite some doing.  It began with the segments of the train journey, ensuring we would be in the eclipse zone with time to spare.  Then plane journies were added a few days either side of those, and finally hotel accommodation and car hire at key points were reserved.

Wed 16 August, and we began!

An early start and a drive to Dublin airport, where we parked at the Clayton Hotel.  Cars are packed in tightly here, and it took some searching to find an accessible spot.  But it’s much cheaper than the official car parks, and there’s a shuttle bus which ferries passengers to the shiny terminal 2 building.  Cases successfully weighed and checked in, we relaxed over breakfast before making our way to the US pre-clearance area.  More security checks, and then some finger printing and face photographing, plus some questions about the ESTA – had I answered all the questions correctly? It really is a huge bonus to be able to do all this before flying, and saves hours of queuing on landing.

The Aer Lingus flight was very smooth, with a tasty meal, and I watched The Founder, and Going In Style.  Having already done our pre-clearance, we arrive at Chicago’s domestic terminal, where our bags appear quickly, and we hop in a taxi to the Freehand Hotel.  There is heavy traffic – we could have taken the El train,  but I wasn’t too sure where to get off.

The hotel is in a good location, but the rooms are very small, with nowhere to store suitaces.  We spent out first evening indulging in “Aimless Wandering” by the River Walk.

chicago riverWe stopped at O’Briens for something to eat, and to  shelter from the heavy rain storm which came out of nowhere.

chicago obriensAfter chatting to the Irish staff, they recommended Big Bus tours.  We popped into an Irish pub on way home, where there was a pub quiz going on. I winced as I got the bill – the dollar- sterling exchange rate is painful at the moment.

chicago barbill

Thursday

I need tea to start my day, but discovered that the lobby café produced the Worst Tea Ever. I accept that the USA is a coffee drinking nation, but work out that ordering a “hot tea with milk” will get me something close to what I’m after.

We found the bus tour stall, and chose the 2 day ticket which included an architecture boat trip.

IMG_2024As the at least partial eclipse would be visible right across the states, the whole country was gearing up for it, with special mention at each weather forecast.  The Chicago Adler planetarium was giving out free eclipse glasses at the square, but by the time we’d got there they had run out. On the bus tour we stopped at planetarium itself, but the queue for the entrance was rather long,  so we just admired the skyline views.

We went to Navy Pier for lunch at Bubba Gump, and enjoyed the sight and sound of the  Blue Angels rehearsing for the Air and Water show passing overhead.

Friday

Next door to the hotel is West Town Bakery, where I get something tea-ish for breakfast.  Roger tries a Reuben sandwich.

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We walk to the modern art museum for an exhibition by some Japanese dude – Rog is entranced, but it’s not my cup of tea….

chicago art

The Hancock tower is round the corner so we opt for the view and drink package.

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chicago gotham

In the afternoon, the Architecture Boat tour is very good – Pat the tour guide most informative. The city is very Gotham-like, and the skyscrapers are amazing.

IMG_2082I can’t find a hot dog place I like the look of, so we go for deep pan pizza at Pizzeria Uno.  It’s not my favourite, I’m not a huge pizza fan to begin with, but much prefer the thin and crispy style, rather than this overly sweet thick bready base.

Saturday

There’s no parkrun in Chicago, but I had planned to do their version organsied by CARA.  However, I abandon that idea as the Air Show is on and I’m not sure how to get there, am  worried about traffic and getting back in time for the train.  I run 5km along River Walk instead, before a WTB breakfast.  I’d estimate that more the half the people using RiverWalk at this time of day are fellow runners, and I feel I’m in good company.

We take an Uber to Union Station with plenty of time to admire the cavernous space, and vow to rewatch The Untouchables.

And I finally get to enjoy a hotdog with everything.

chicago hot dog

It seems a little disorganised – announcements are unclear, and we just line up when told before being marched single file down to the platform.  And there’s the train!

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The next chapter awaits us.

chicao statues

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