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

In Fall 2000 Kim studied in London for a semester before returning to Willamette. With London as her base, she made the most of her semester abroad and explored many other parts of Europe.

Always one to try new things, Kim managed to squeeze a 2-week bartending course into 4 days while in San Francisco just before returning to Willamette! At the end of high school she became fascinated with belly dancing, and now is an accomplished belly dancer and trained bartender, to boot!

Meanwhile, Whitney is in her freshman year at College Park High School, where she plays high school volleyball and soccer. She also continues to play Class-I club soccer. After two successful years with the Lamorinda Wild Things Class-I team, she now plays with the Bay Oaks Blasters U-15 team.

Posted by 02/02/2001

Vang Vieng is a small town in Northern Laos which is unfortunately a stop on the backpackers beaten trail, destroying any charm it once had and turning it into a feeding frenzy for those looking to squeeze an easy buck from the ignorant travellers. We had to stop however because just outside Vang Vieng are incredible limestone cliffs and the only climbing sites in Laos. The weather was threatening to rain but we decided we couldn't risk missing the only chance we would have. We grabbed our shoes, rented the rope and harnesses we would need from a local shop and headed for the closest, driest site.

Eager to get some real climbing in

Posted by nik 11/15/2008, revised 11/15/2008

Written Sept 11, 2008

A week in Thailand. Time for a blog.

Nik and I had no problems meeting up at the Bangkok airport, try as I might to miss my plane... we found eachother at 8am Bangkok time, I think 2am my time (coming from France), and 6pm Nik's time (coming from California). Despite coming from opposite time zones, neither of us had any problem adjusting to our new time. One night of early sleep, and we were settled. Sweet.

So anyway, our trip started off at full pace. Thursday morning, we went from the airport to our Couchsurfer's place, dropped our stuff, and hopped on a river boat. We were off to the Grand Palace, a ridiculously intricate and ornate conglomeration of jeweled buildings. It was the sparkliest place I think I've ever been. We also saw the reclining Buddha, which is a ginormous gold rendition of a Buddha that they put it a temple that juuust big enough for the Big Buddha (heh) and a little walkway for visitors to squeeze around. Makes it difficult to take any pictures of the thing - he just doesn't fit in the frame.

The Grand Palace - talk about bling!

Posted by Whitney 09/13/2008, revised 09/14/2008