The lack of posting is because I was away on vacation. We decided to go camping along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I had previously done this trip back in my 20s, but called it quits at Asheville. This time I endeavored to go to the true summit of Mount Mitchell, and finish the entire length through western North Carolina. Brief stop in the Smokeys, then onto Nashville were I watched the eclipse with my Uncle in Gallatin, Tennessee.
Weather was perfect, both for Mount Mitchell and for the eclipse. Totality does make all the difference in the world. It was quite a spectacle. I saw the standing waves in the first minutes of totality’s recession. Approaching totality the light was strange. Shadows were fuzzy and sometimes crescent shaped. It was like the whole earth was being lit by a very white LED light.
Other than that, I was glad to get back into some camping. Things will return to normal around here as soon as I get my bearings back.
HA! We were in the same town. All this OpSec means is that we don’t get to meet up. I was with GBVC Cohost Emeritus Adam.
It was fantastic. I’m making plans for 2024. Nearly 4-1/2 minutes of totality on that one.
Totality was indeed amazing. I saw it from western Nebraska.
I went to Idaho to see the eclipse. Oddly enough, my thoughts on seeing it was literally “Huh, that’s it? Now how the heck am I getting to the next one?”
Right now, the “next one” is almost certainly the one in 2024…but if I’m in a financial position to do so, there’s another one to see in Chile in a couple of years, as well as three or four more after that. Among the possibilities: how the heck can I get myself and my family down to Antarctica? Particularly since at least two in my family have cold-induced asthma?
So, despite my weird boredom at the end of the thing, it must have touched me somehow, because (1) I’m planning on trying to get to the next eclipse, for whatever value of “next”, and (2) I am almost moved to tears when I think back to what I saw when the last little sparkle disappeared (I probably shouldn’t have seen that sparkle, now that I think of it, without eye protection, but it was kindof crazy) and the sun’s cornea lighting up.
Our families went to Yellowstone and then on to Idaho Falls for the eclipse. An excellent trip, and weather was great though there was some nerves about the forecast for the eclipse. Got some good photos, though didn’t get any of the “diamond ring” (a difficult timing and exposure problem). A different experience than the 1994 annular eclipse (which was only a partial for the Boston area where I was then). Now my dad is thinking of Chile as well as 2024 (he says Niagara Falls but that sounds likely to be mobbed to me).
I think it was the annular eclipse a few years ago (that I only saw as a partial eclipse) that convinced me to look up when other eclipses were happening, and I saw a total eclipse happening this year, and decided to be sure to see this one.
Either that, or it was the Venus transit. For that, I was disappointed that we weren’t able to make it to a place that had telescopes — the place we were going to was cloudy, and we didn’t know that we’d have to pay an entrance fee — but at the time, I wasn’t even sure how to get solar glasses of any sort. Seeing the partial eclipse portions of the eclipse through solar glasses, though, convinced me that I didn’t really miss much when we watched the transit through online streaming instead. It was special, to be sure, but it wasn’t nearly as fantastic as seeing a total eclipse.
I was on the parkway just west of Asheville. A cloud came along and we only got to see the first 10 seconds of totality.
Observing a fill eclipse is like watching Niagara Falls – after two minutes you’re only left wondering where to find a good burger.
I went with the family down to Anderson, SC. We got a hotel in the area of totality (bought months ago cheaply). It started off fine for the first 45 minutes, as we were able to see the eclipse until clouds started rolling in.
We made the decision to find a spot to view up the road, and found a small park near Clemson. We got to see totality in total (ha!). It was enchanting and amazing.
Can’t wait for 2024.