Apr 6, 2024 - Apr 18, 2024
Last updated: 4/26/24 3:00pm PT
Back in 2017, we saw a total solar eclipse in Salem, OR. It was awesome. There is a big difference between seeing an eclipse that is only 99% totality vs one that is 100% totality. After seeing our first eclipse, we decided we wanted to see another. In 2024 there was a total eclipse passing through Mexico and the US. When it came time to book the trip, we gave ourselves two options, based on likelihood of cloud cover at a location. Our options were Mazatlan, Mexico (best chance for clear skies) or Dallas, Texas. When flights finally became available to book, the travel to Mazatlan was difficult. No non-stop flights, and the choices were to have a really long layover in 1 city, or 2 medium layovers in 2 cities. Either way, a really long travel day to see a 4 minute event. So we booked a non-stop flight to Dallas.
In our early years of traveling, we figured we’d eventually get to all 50 states. But as time went by, we kind of gave up on the idea, thinking we would never go to Texas (or Oklahoma, or Kansas). But since this eclipse was going through Texas, we thought we might as well touch a few more states. Our nephew and his family live in Oklahoma, so we thought we’d drive there to see them. And since Kansas seemed reasonably close to Oklahoma, we would drive there as well. About the only state in this area of the country that we thought we might want to see was New Mexico (we touched a extremely small portion of New Mexico in 2008 when we went to the Four Corners).
So a driving trip was born. Fly to Dallas, fly home from Albuquerque. We saw a few things around Dallas and also took in a Dallas Stars hockey game. In Oklahoma we visited family, went to the zoo and a few museums. Kansas was hard. We couldn’t find many interesting things to do in Kansas, without driving all over the state, but we went to a botanical garden and ate lunch in Wichita. New Mexico has some ancient ruins in Bandelier, a hot air balloon museum and some Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul sites in Albuquerque.