Both kids popped out of bed raring to go see super-blood-blue-lunar-eclipse at 4:30am this morning. Their enthusiasm faded as quickly as the moonlight.
We parked at the top of the neighborhood and headed out on well-packed snow toward a Donner Lake viewpoint. Complaints started within minutes of the actual exercise.
“I’m chafing,” reported Alex.
“Really,” I thought to myself, “like you’ve dealt with an overly aggressive crotch seam for 70 miles?” The complaint was actually relating to his snowboots being too big. We stopped to make some adjustments, but the improvement was minimal.
We could see the blood orange moon setting in the west through the trees. The kids figured this was sufficient and couldn’t understand why we would keep walking to the better vantage point.
After about 20 minutes of “boot chafing,” we arrived at the clearing I had in mind. Some sibling scuffling ensued, but they each settled on a rock and observed for about 10 seconds before they we ready to return to the car.
They wisely posed for a couple of photos before we headed back.
My sister, a professional photographer, taught me that “some scenes are better memories than photos.”
Today’s adventure will likely end up the reverse: “better photos than memories.”
Post-script: Although, in all honesty, I would have enjoyed experiencing the morning unfold by myself (that is, sans complaining kids,) I have no regrets about taking them. Sometimes you just have to give it a shot. (Like last week’s snow shoe run!)
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