oregon

We Saw The Totality! - USA Solar Eclipse 2017 /  by Anthony Ngu

Monday, August 21st a Solar Eclipse swept across the United States and since I live in Seattle, I was able to drive down to Oregon to view the totality (an event where the moon totally eclipses the sun and a cool effect called the corona is visible to the naked eye!

Here's the vlog I produced from the adventure if you want to watch it unfold:

The plan was to drive on Sunday from Seattle to Painted Hill, Oregon for the totality viewing on Monday morning. Why Painted Hills? It's dead center on the line of totality and has about 2 minutes of totality viewing. The line for the totality literally passes over the painted hills lookout.

The drive between Seattle and Painted Hills takes about 6 hours usually and on Sunday the traffic wasn't horrible so we were able to make that timing and arrived at Painted Hills around 5 pm. The rangers had closed off the usual route into the Painted Hills Lookout and had set up a parking lot that was closed from 9 pm until 6 am (sunset to sunrise). We had come prepared to sleep in the back of my Subaru Crosstrek and luckily the rangers mentioned that we could camp out across the street in what is called BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) so we decided to do that and parked our car about a 10 minute walk away from the parking lot which is about a 15 minute walk from the Painted Hills Lookout. Not too bad!

We went to the Painted Hills Lookout for sunset after a quick sandwich meal and enjoyed the sunset before calling it a night and making our way back to the car. I took some astrophotography shots that night because the stars were so clear but went to sleep pretty early.

The next morning we woke up at 5 am to a line of cars on the road but luckily we were able to jump out of our car and just walk over to the lookout! So we took our time and got a sweet spot on the lookout over the painted hill and I set up my camera gear to prepare for the eclipse.

That's how I was able to capture some of these images and the video for the Youtube Vlog

The totality was amazing to see in person and it's hard to describe because it's just such a unique and crazy sight. After we watched the whole solar eclipse finish, we went to check out the nearby Painted Cove before jumping in our car and heading back home. The route back ended up taking close to 9 hours instead of the normal 6, but that wasn't bad considering the number of people traveling back that same day.

What a sight to behold.. definitely one of my favorite moments of 2017 and possibly my life.

Eugene Oregon Trip /  by Anthony Ngu

Started off the weekend early by heading out Friday morning for a road trip to Oregon! The purpose of our weekend trip was to go to a friend's wedding in Eugene Oregon, but we took the time to detour a little and check out some scenic locations that we had heard of.

Our first stop was in Portland to pick up two of Catherine's cousins who were joining us for our adventure to Cougar Hot Springs. This was when I realized that I had left my suit for the wedding hanging on the rack in my entryway.. (facepalm)

Due to this amazing failure, our second stop ended up being outlet malls in Woodburn, Oregon. I stopped by an Express store and picked out a navy blue suit in under 10 minutes that fit pretty well for a last minute purchase and we were on our way.

Next we made it to the hot springs and it wasn't packed! It was raining a little but we didn't mind and it actually added to the atmosphere.

After that we parted ways with Catherine's cousins and went to our campsite that was about a 5 minute drive past the hot springs. We were tempted to pull out the tent and make camp but decided that it was not worth the effort to take down the wet tent the next morning. Instead we threw down the back seats and set up our sleeping pads and sleeping bags inside of my Subaru Crosstrek. We both managed to fit with enough space and made a quick dinner of some ramen noodles that we had brought along.

The next day we had plenty of time to spare so we hung around Eugene, Oregon and went to a market that was happening where I picked up a Carolina Reaper pepper plant! (Hit me up if you want to try the first peppers that come off it for a future video) We also hit up a couple places to eat before heading to the mall and then the hotel where we were staying for the night. That night the wedding was held at a winery nearby and it was beautiful despite the occasional showers. The venue overlooked a winery valley and a rainbow appeared for a short while.

Sunday was a day full of traveling as we made our way back to Seattle and passed by the outlets one more time where both Catherine and I picked up jackets for the future winter and then ate some sushi before arriving back at home.