April 5th plans

Hello…today we’re planning to drive to Marshall, NE TX, in order to keep our options open for the eclipse. We’re leaning more towards Arkansas for the eclipse, due to an influx of moisture from the south which is expected over Texas…but it’s still not clear where and if it will be clear!

April 4th

We spent until near mid-afternoon at the hotel, as Alana was somewhat off-colour. Had a chat with Mum and Dad on a video call. We then headed to the aquarium in Corpus, and met Ann and Rich there.

Watched some fish swimming around. Saw a turtle. And some flamingos. Alana enjoyed it too.

Headed back to the hotel, and Ann and Rich came over, as they are at a different hotel. We all headed down the beach for a while. Had a paddle, made some sandcastles with Alana. 

Ann and Rich then headed off, and we went to Applebee’s again for dinner. 

We will need to start making some eclipse-based decisions tomorrow, as we have 4 hotel options booked, and we need to determine which we will cancel. Shame the eclipse wasn’t today, as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but they can’t change the date, apparently. 

Bridge

Aquarium 

Flambards 

You lookin’ at me?

Hello, cheeky 

Sandy car park

Digger

Seaside

April 3rd, 2024

Got up earlier than might have been expected. Took Ann and Rich to the airport to pick up their car, as their rental company is lazier than ours and had the cheek to not wait for us to get to the airport late last night.

We then sorted our car hire out for the rest of the holiday and drove down to North Padre Island. Managed to get a quick paddle in before heading off for dinner. I had made the mistake of mentioning the beach to Alana at the start of the journey, which meant she asked about the beach every 6 minutes on the way down. 

Ate dinner at Applebee’s, Alana’s first visit to one!

Tried not to think about the various weather model outputs showing rather cloudy skies quite widely next Monday. We’ll worry about that in a couple of days’ time.

Some pics below…Ann and Rich’s blog is here: http://annandrichardsamericanadventure.blogspot.com/

Our steed for the week, at Walmart 

View from hotel balcony 

How far in can I drive it?

Car not interested in going in the sea

2024…we’re back!

Quick post..but we’re back in the USA! This time, for the total solar eclipse which will take place on Monday, April 8. As well as Helen and me, our daughter Alana has made her first international trip! My brother, Richard, and his partner, Ann, are on the trip too.

In short, we had to fly to Austin via LAX, as our direct flight was cancelled. This meant Monday was a very long day! 

Not heading out again

 Hello! Well, another year, another non-chase holiday! Sadly, with the ongoing pandemic, despite some opening up of things, we're not able to visit the Great Plains for the second year in a row. 

There looks to be some reasonable storm chances over the coming 2 weeks, so I'm sure there will be some decent storm structure and maybe even a few tornadoes which we would have had the chance of chasing.

Good luck to all those US folks chasing this year - and stay safe!

June 4th...not not back home

Hello there. Today we didn’t get home from our not trip to the USA. It’s not not been fun to not chase this year, we we don’t have to get over not jet lag now. Thanks for viewing!

June 3rd...not heading home

Hello. Today, we’re not heading to DFW to not catch the plane back to LHR tonight.

It’s not not been a great not trip this year.