After an uneventful flight over the Pacific to LAX we fought our way through immigration and customs/quarrantine, a mere 2.5 h to clear the system, then on to the adjacent teminal for the LAX to salt lake city leg, with another half an hour of queuing for the security scanning. Luckily we allowed for a long connection time, so we didn’t need to panic. At SLC we caught up with Steven and Judy, collected the rental car and headed North.

Echo Canyon, Wyoming

Our route took us through Echo Canyon, site of the Utah War in 1857, where the US army sent troops to Utah to quell reported difficulties with the then Governor of the State, Brigham Young (also the second leader of the Mormon Church). The area has splendid scenery and is well worth a return visit.

Railway park, Evanstown, Wyoming

Then on to Evanston, a small town founded during the construction of the first trans-continental railway, for a food break in Railway Park (body clock wasn’t quite sure what time it was).  From there, a quick couple of hours got us to Jill’s cousin’s place not far south of the Grand Tetons National Park, where we got a fabulous welcome.

In Etna we were too far south for the total eclipse, the midline passed north of Jackson, so next day we headed further north, to prospect potential eclipse viewing sites. At Jackson Hole, munching sandwiches in the park  we got into conversation with a guy, John Kennedy, who, it turned out, made jewelry for a living.

John Kenedy-Jewler

He showed us some of his fascinating work at a nearby jewelry store. He uses cylindrical cut semiprecious stones – agate and the like, as light guides to convey shifting light patterns to the inset diamonds or other faceted stones, to enhance the range of colours and lustres that one saw.

Onwards, up Mormon Row, we enjoyed some lovely scenery with the Tetons in the background, and some historic farmhouses, before heading west, skirting the south of the Tetons and up a narrow winding road to Grand Targhee Ski resort which had a high view over the Tetons. All the ski lift tickets to the top of the range for eclipse day were long sold out (at $100 each!).  we decided the narrow road would be clogged, and the mountain weather too uncertain, and scratched the location from our list.

Friday, and Don and Anita took us rafting down the Snake River. This was a gentle drift down about 9 miles over about 2 h (took us 3 because we hauled out and had a quiet lunch on the river banks with the Tetons laid out as a vista before us.

After returning home, we enjoyed hummingbirds in the back garden. What a lovely day.

Next day more rafting – this time a whitewater section that took us through many rapids, with peaceful stretches between to give time for the adrenaline to settle down and the clothes to dry. We took advice to leave cameras at home – they would have got rather wet and potentially lost in the event of a capsize. Thankfully skipper Don got us through without anyone overboard. At one of the rapids a commercial photography company makes business by selling photos they take as they traverse the rapid. Don kindly bought us a set.

Sunday was a day for getting gear ready, checking latest weather forecasts, poring over maps and general planning.

Monday: Eclipse day. We got up early, and on the strength of forecasts for probably cloud over the tetons area, we headed west into Idaho.  As we went we re-checked satellite imagery for cloud cover, and ended up, eventually, heading for a wildlife refuge north east of Idaho Falls, where, the map promised, there were abundant lakes that might make an attractive foreground for wide-angle photography of the eclipse. Alas we ended up in a long and slow procession of cars on a one-way, no escape track meandering between the dried up lake beds. Eventually we got parked beside a dry reed bed… no water in sight. Hundreds of people obviously had the same idea as us, and the forest service people were working hard to avoid catastrophe. Despite the hassles, we had clear skies, and a fabulous eclipse.

Here is a composite image that shows the corona and some flares during the period of totality.

I cobbled together a 20 second video from shots I took during the period of totality, ending with the “diamond ring” stage.

Tuesday was a relaxation day, lounging around in balmy temperatures, and convivial conversations. And some packing. And some re-packing… eventually I got everything into bags.

Weds, up early, and off to Salt Lake City for the Long-Long overnight flight via LAX to San Jose, Costa Rica.

Our stay in the US was fantastic. Huge thanks to our hosts and family who made our stay so enjoyable.

More photos at https://goo.gl/photos/a9VZppRAdSfh53tFA for your enjoyment.