An Eclipse Get Together

We got a text from our niece Sara about she and her daughter Eliza coming to Buffalo for the eclipse which is coming over directly above the city on the afternoon of Monday April 8th. She asked if they could stay at our house for the event. Of course we said yes. Later we found out she would be coming in on Saturday and leaving on Tuesday morning. So now it was three nights.

Becky and I were not planning on doing anything special for the eclipse event. We knew it was going to be a crazy crowded weekend with people coming to Buffalo from all over the country. It was also not a good thing for me to be looking up at the sun even with the special glasses on because of my eye surgery so we were going to ignore the eclipse for the most part. It was also not a good time to be going out to a restaurant that weekend or down to the waterfront.

But with Sara and Eliza coming in Saturday, Sunday and Monday we thought we may need to entertain them or take them out somewhere. Then she texted again with news that she wanted to bring her brother Chris along with Olivia and Nolan. That was going to be an issue as to where we would put them. Sara talked about sleeping bags on the floor. Becky was a little upset about this and I told Sara in the text that we didn't have the room and were uncomfortable with that many people coming for three days. She said they would look into maybe getting a hotel room.

I did some online searching for hotel rooms available in Buffalo that weekend and came up with a big nothing. Bookins.com actually stated that 98% of hotel rooms in WNY were booked for that weekend. Sara was talking about the girls Eliza and Livvie having a road trip get together and if it was just Sara and the two teenage girls we could make it work but Chris and Nolan complicate things. We really only have one bed for an adult and two children's beds that would not be comfortable for teenagers. 

We talked with Sara on the phone last night and she clarified some of their plans. Apparently Chris heard about her trip to Buffalo and thought it would be fun for him and the kids went along too. He is looking for a hotel room and seems to think he will be able to find one ok. We think that maybe he and Nolan will get a room while Sara, Eliza and Livvie stay at our house. They also talked about stopping in mid PA after touring around on Saturday. They would stay at a motel Sat night and then come into Buffalo on Sunday. 

The weekend of their coming is still two weeks away so we will see how things go. We are looking forward to spending some time with them.