August 21 2017 North American Total Solar Eclipse
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We got to about 97% here.
There were a number of people looking at it without glasses when it was near the maximum. I was filming the crowds for a friend in Japan who has a talk show. I made sure to get footage of those people. I hope the Japanese get a kick out of it.
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I volunteer at a local library and they were giving out eclipse glasses. One of the librarians and I went outside just before 3 pm to stand with a small crowd at the library's front doors. Bit cloudy today and we only had about 70%, but I borrowed a pair of the eclipse glasses from someone and took a look for a few seconds. Pretty cool!
I couldn't get glasses, so I did the pinhole paper viewing. It was neat to see the little circle move over the other little circle. My friend and I insist we're getting eclipse glasses for 2024 and want to head up to Burlington VT where it is supposed to be a full eclipse.
It wasn't so! Perfect viewing weather, easily one of the most amazing things I've ever seen right up there with the Hale-Bopp comet. Two and a half minutes of totality.
Next time, try the colander trick. (Or watch the shadows... like this, or this.)
We were too far north for totality, but the sun was down to a bare sliver at peak (watched with eclipse glasses, and a pinhole box), and it got dim, like wearing sunglasses. Didn't notice much in the way of odd wildlife reaction, though. Heard a hummingbird curse, but they always curse. Definitely glad we got to see it, though; we usually get rooked on celestial events.
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San Francisco presented its usual morning fog and low clouds. It wasn't going to be full totality here anyway, but it was absolutely a non-event.
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It was supposed to be 90% complete from where I am in Florida, but the sky was overcast. Didn't see a thing. I learned ages ago to never get excited about anything in the sky because there's better than a 50-50 chance that you won't be able to see it from here.
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From Europe, so I didn't see it.
But I did log on to the web yesterday and see plenty of these weird-looking things, so that was equally entertaining.
Plus, this.
But I did log on to the web yesterday and see plenty of these weird-looking things, so that was equally entertaining.
Plus, this.
Four AM, finally home, no car, it's four hours back in the Dalles. But yay! I saw the total eclipse. It was fantastic!
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We had that same stupid cloud LauraM had in Columbia in Charleston, but it got to us just after totality started. We got 30 seconds to a minute of totality before it covered it. I wanted to hear if the birds stopped and crickets started, but jerkoffs nearby decided they couldn't exist without lights and set off fireworks the whole time. Neighbors were playing a radio station that played Total Eclipse of the Heart during, and Here comes The Sun after. As soon as totality was over, the Mister and I threw our stuff in the car and bolted.
It took us 7 hours to get home taking back-roads instead of 5 hours interstate, but the two times we crossed the interstates we would have taken (95 and 40), they were stopped, so no regrets.
It took us 7 hours to get home taking back-roads instead of 5 hours interstate, but the two times we crossed the interstates we would have taken (95 and 40), they were stopped, so no regrets.
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Some folks set off fireworks at the park we were at too, just as the sun started to come back, so we couldn't hear if any crickets started up or not. The crows at the park went nuts, though. They flew up to the roof of the nearby school and started cawing at 10:18 or thereabouts (maximum totality in Salem, OR). Given how intelligent crows are, maybe they were saying, "Holy crap, that's incredible!" or even, "Humans get so weird during eclipses. They must think it's nighttime."
We had a lot of traffic jams to contend with on our drive back down to CA on I-5. An 8-9 hour drive took more than 15 hours, and we were both exhausted (and groggy today). It was completely worth it, though. It's a really uncanny experience.
Our nieces and nephews who were there loved it. I think it will be a lifetime memory for them (except maybe for the two year old).
Wow, I only have you beat for a longer trip home because we had to wait for a friend to drive 4 hours to get us from where my car broke down. Left right after the eclipse and got home after 3am.
There was almost no traffic getting there but the traffic back was insane, on hwy 97 and on I-5.