It had been about 2 weeks since being laid off from my job as a lab manager in Cambridge, MA and I was spending quite a lot of time skiing, hiking and camping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I and some friends were on the tail end of a weekend of skiing and enjoying each others company. Most people took off on Sunday, but another friend and I decided to camp out for one more night, and hike up Mt.Washington to enjoy the 99.96% eclipse totality.
Why not go to Vermont for 100% totality?
We were already in the White Mountains, 100% totality was over in Vermont. We thought there would be less traffic heading to Boston from NH. Also, it seemed like a really cool idea to be on the highest point in the North East USA to watch 100% totality just 20-50 miles to our West, and then ski down!
Ultimately, we had amazing views. The pictures I took did not do it justice what-so-ever. The orange, shadowy light gave the snow weird colors. The sky was a mix of sunset, and mid-night sky. The contrast was incredibly unique. It also got very cold, very quickly, which is something I should have expected, but truly didn’t.
In the end, we were able to hike up to the col between Mt.Clay and Mt.Washington, and watch the eclipse from there. We skied down some pretty weird snow that had partially refrozen during the eclipse, but quickly corned up as we skied down. As we were skiing down I continuously looked at my watch, and began to realize how screwed we were.
Queue a ~10 hour drive from the Cog Railway back to Boston and then Hull.
I forgot I-89 and I-93 merged… and all of the Vermont eclipse watchers heading back to Boston would eventually merge onto the same highway we were on.
How did watching the eclipse lead to me taking a 52-day cross country road-trip?
Well… I’m not entirely sure! To start, it’s always been a dream of mine to go out west. It wasn’t one that I had ever really given thought though. It felt unobtainable during my college/masters day’s because I didn’t have an income. Then, when I had a job I began exploring the country bit by bit, but the west coast still wasn’t reality for me. I had started to take trips out West in 2023 for birthday Ski trips, which I intend to continue! But, it still wasn’t the west coast. It also wasn’t calling to me as strongly anymore, I think because of the wildfires and other issues. I didn’t realize there was so much to see and do out there until I got there! But, that’s getting ahead of myself.
So, after exploring New Hampshire and skiing for a few weeks I suddenly had the idea, why haven’t I left for a road-trip?
Matt getting first tracks in the brook. I had met someone on a powder day a week or so before this, and he showed me a lot of cool places. We had great snow then too. I figured it was only right to give Matt first tracks for his first time. Shoutout to Chris for the goods! We ended up lapping this and another chute a few times this day. When NH is good, it’s real good.
And that’s how it started!
I was working on my resume, updating cover letters when it hit me! This was a perfect opportunity. When was it ever going to happen again? Not working was not my choice (I like working, if I can, I will!), I had some savings and a lot of free-time. At first, it looked like life gave me some pretty shitty lemons.
Little did I know, life was giving me the opportunity to make some pretty damn good lemonade. I just needed to go out and find the rest of the ingredients.
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