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Anyone Traveling for the Eclipse?


JustEm

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1 hour ago, DawnM said:

I hadn't really thought about it, but looking at the map, I could go down to a friend's house about 90 min South of me if I wanted to see it in totality.

It's very, very worth going to an area of totality if you can. I drove a few hours for the last one and it was by far the most awe-inspiring thing I have ever experienced. Totality is an entirely different experience from a partial eclipse.

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Well, I am, but not because of the eclipse.  We would have been in the path of totality at home.  Our daughter has both her senior showcase and her senior recital that weekend before.  In fact, I was going to leave the campsite near her university on that Monday, but wasn't allowed. (We arrived on Thursday and planned to leave Monday.  We had to stay through Tuesday.  It is also in the path of totality, so yeah, will watch it and enjoy time with our daughter probably. 

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5 hours ago, Kassia said:

We live right in the path of totality so we just have to go outside.  I expect some or all of our kids to come home for it, but it's cloudy here so often that maybe they'll go somewhere else instead.  

I do fear it being cloudy. We just don't have the time to drive to areas where it is more likely to be clear

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1 minute ago, Ginevra said:

Titusville, PA

Nice. We picked our general area to get as much totality as we can. We'll be heading to the over 3 minutes range. Just gotta pin down where exactly.

We're actually meeting up with my sister, her daughter, and my parents who will be coming from Alabama, whereas we're traveling from Maryland 

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We are debating it but the closest point of totality is 7-8 hours from us so we aren't sure. We traveled 3 hours for the last one and it clouded up the day of. The temperature drop and night-time sounds were worth it even though it got cloudy plus we were on a mountain and were able to see the shadow of night pass over the valley.

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We traveled for the last one, and I was so glad we did. It's awesome. We're in totality for this one. But, if it's cloudy here and we could drive day of to some place clear, I will do it. I want to experience it again. 

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We got a secluded farmhouse VRBO in Paducah, KY. It's about 6ish hours south of us and in the path of totality. At this point all 5 of us will be going. 

ETA: we were just going to go down for the weekend, and driving back on Monday to go back to work on Tuesday. Now, with Illinois' new paid leave for all act, I'm taking the week off. Although we'll still drive back, I get a week of vacation!

 

Edited by historically accurate
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8 minutes ago, sbgrace said:

We traveled for the last one, and I was so glad we did. It's awesome. We're in totality for this one. But, if it's cloudy here and we could drive day of to some place clear, I will do it. I want to experience it again. 

We drove to Tennessee for the last one. And it was such an amazing experience. But dh couldn't come with because he had to work so I told him that when the next rolls around he doesn't get the option of not coming 😂

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We’re traveling farther than we need to, so we can visit another place we’d like to see while being in the path of totality. None of us have ever had the experience of seeing a total eclipse before. I’m a bit worried, though, because dh could only get a couple of days off work, so we have four days total, and a drive of more than nine hours each way. It’s doable, just more strenuous than I would like.

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14 minutes ago, Innisfree said:

We’re traveling farther than we need to, so we can visit another place we’d like to see while being in the path of totality. None of us have ever had the experience of seeing a total eclipse before. I’m a bit worried, though, because dh could only get a couple of days off work, so we have four days total, and a drive of more than nine hours each way. It’s doable, just more strenuous than I would like.

We are driving farther than we need to as well.  We have relatives on dh's side in Cleveland that we could stay with. We actually will be visiting them leading up to the eclipse.  However, from there we'll be driving to stay near Cincinnati or Dayton in order to meet up with my side of the family.  It will be a lot of driving but dh has off the 4th through 10th.

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1 minute ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

We are in the 98% covered area but it looks like I’ve only got to drive 20 minutes north for totality.  I will probably keep the kids home, and least my youngest two, from school and find someplace to view the totality.

I highly recommend going to totality.  It is quite the experience

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We traveled to a friend's house 2 hours away last time and it was pretty incredible. This time we are in the path so we'll probably just enjoy it at home. There are a ton of events happening in our town but I think I'd rather enjoy it in peace. I know hotel rooms in our little town are outrageously expensive and packed so if anyone wants to see it they should get with booking and maybe consider trying to get close and then driving to totality.

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7 hours ago, Kassia said:

We live right in the path of totality so we just have to go outside.  I expect some or all of our kids to come home for it, but it's cloudy here so often that maybe they'll go somewhere else instead.  

 

Same here! 

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24 minutes ago, Soror said:

 There are a ton of events happening in our town but I think I'd rather enjoy it in peace. I know hotel rooms in our little town are outrageously expensive and packed so if anyone wants to see it they should get with booking and maybe consider trying to get close and then driving to totality.

Same here with many many events going on locally.  The county next to ours said they expect 1 million visitors, so I wonder how busy it will be for travelers.  

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59 minutes ago, Soror said:

We traveled to a friend's house 2 hours away last time and it was pretty incredible. This time we are in the path so we'll probably just enjoy it at home. There are a ton of events happening in our town but I think I'd rather enjoy it in peace. I know hotel rooms in our little town are outrageously expensive and packed so if anyone wants to see it they should get with booking and maybe consider trying to get close and then driving to totality.

I have an event to go to the weekend before and couldn't figure out why the prices were extremely high for the hotel I usually stay at. dh figured out it's the weekend before the eclipse.  Luckily a similar hotel on the same street hadn't figured it out yet or was ignoring it 

We live in totality so won't have to travel.  My dh has a conference in a different state that will also be in totality so he was happy about that.

Edited by Tenaj
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1 hour ago, Soror said:

We traveled to a friend's house 2 hours away last time and it was pretty incredible. This time we are in the path so we'll probably just enjoy it at home. There are a ton of events happening in our town but I think I'd rather enjoy it in peace. I know hotel rooms in our little town are outrageously expensive and packed so if anyone wants to see it they should get with booking and maybe consider trying to get close and then driving to totality.

This is what we did last time.  We camp about an hour away from totality and then the morning of drove about an hour to Sparta, TN and happened about the most wonderful library event for the eclipse.  So, we spent the day outside of the library meeting people and enjoying the festivities.  

We are trying to solidify an airbnb or vrbo today that will likely be about an hour away from totality.  At the moment we have a lot of options that are reasonably priced.  There are also a lot of option that are incredibly overpriced!

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39 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Same here with many many events going on locally.  The county next to ours said they expect 1 million visitors, so I wonder how busy it will be for travelers.  

We drove from Utah to Idaho for the last one. The drive up in the morning was fine, and our viewing location (random empty lot we decided to stop at) wasn't super crowded; but the traffic on the drive home was completely insane--what should have been a three hour drive took nine hours! 

It's the ordinary problem--people trickle in over time in advance of a big event, then once the event is over everyone heads home all at once. I'd take that into account in making travel plans, and if possible plan to not head home immediately after the eclipse.

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We are! Going to my in laws in Rochester, which will have totality. One of the funny things is that we were the ones who told them about it. We're like, can we come stay with you, we're excited to see it. They're like, why would you come here? Lol. But now they're the ones who are like, we got these glasses and we reserved this place to go see it and let's do this and that and this. We were like, um, we thought we'd just throw on glasses and walk over to that park you live near.

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In the path of totality so planning to view from our back yard since events will be crowded.

Local schools are in a kerfluffle trying to decide what to do since it’s at dismissal time. Most are either doing a half day or full day off for kids. They’re saying staff has to work all day but I suspect we actually are told to go ahead and leave early. A lot of us already put in for the day off anyways.


I was able to secure a grant for eclipse teaching materials and viewing glasses for our whole district!  
 

that said it will probably be cloudy here- our weather is terrible that time of year

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3 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said:

In the path of totality so planning to view from our back yard since events will be crowded.

Local schools are in a kerfluffle trying to decide what to do since it’s at dismissal time. Most are either doing a half day or full day off for kids. They’re saying staff has to work all day but I suspect we actually are told to go ahead and leave early. A lot of us already put in for the day off anyways.


I was able to secure a grant for eclipse teaching materials and viewing glasses for our whole district!  
 

that said it will probably be cloudy here- our weather is terrible that time of year

An eclipse can be pretty neat even with clouds. If you get thin clouds you can see the sun through them with eclipse glasses--that happened here with the partial eclipse last fall. With thick clouds you will at least get the sudden falling of night effect.

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5 hours ago, Ginevra said:

Not very far away but yes. Teaming up with @Garga The eclipse is on my birthday so that feel very special. 

It’s going to be lovely, spending time together!

4 hours ago, hjffkj said:

That is special. Where will you be viewing it

We’re going to sleep in Titusville, which is about 5 hours away from where we live, but we’ll drive closer into totality the day of the eclipse. I was just thinking today that we need to figure out a few different places to drive to, in case it’s cloudy in one place and not in another. We’ll have to head out early on the morning of the eclipse, because there might be others with the same idea and I don’t know what sort of traffic we’ll run into. 

I suppose we’ll need some chairs and snacks, too. And sunblock, because I burn like a crisp the moment I step outside. (Must be part vampire.) It’s getting close to needing to make actual plans! (Hmm…also need to find a place with bathrooms wherever we go. Traveling is complicated 🙂 )

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2 minutes ago, Garga said:

It’s going to be lovely, spending time together!

We’re going to sleep in Titusville, which is about 5 hours away from where we live, but we’ll drive closer into totality the day of the eclipse. I was just thinking today that we need to figure out a few different places to drive to, in case it’s cloudy in one place and not in another. We’ll have to head out early on the morning of the eclipse, because there might be others with the same idea and I don’t know what sort of traffic we’ll run into. 

I suppose we’ll need some chairs and snacks, too. And sunblock, because I burn like a crisp the moment I step outside. (Must be part vampire.) It’s getting close to needing to make actual plans! (Hmm…also need to find a place with bathrooms wherever we go. Traveling is complicated 🙂 )

I have been thinking about you a lot while I plan my trip because if I'm remembering correctly you were going to few the last one and decided not to last minute because the rest of your family wasn't particularly excited about it.  Am I remembering that correctly? If so, I'm glad to hear you will see it this time.

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I live in an area where . . . . There is a natural law if there is something to see in the sky, it will be cloudy.   we did have decent weather last time, we were outside totality, but were still affected.   I can understand people who didn't understand what was happening freaking out.  We were on the edge so we got some. I *knew* what was happening, and was freaking out my eyes were going bad!  (I already have bad eyes, so I was primed for that.)  dh and 2ds drove south, they found a park and it was a party.  some very intrepid kids were selling bottles of water on the roadside.  Considering how s l o w l e y cars were moving to get to the main roads, they got business.

I'm glad 2dd lives where good weather is more dependable.

 

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1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

I have been thinking about you a lot while I plan my trip because if I'm remembering correctly you were going to few the last one and decided not to last minute because the rest of your family wasn't particularly excited about it.  Am I remembering that correctly? If so, I'm glad to hear you will see it this time.

Not exactly like that—we did have plans to go view it, but my husband injured his neck, so he couldn’t be in the car for that long or his neck pain would have been unbearable. We all had to tamp down our disappointment and make do with what we had, so we drove to an open area locally and we saw it as a partial eclipse. Even though it wasn’t total, it was still impressive and everyone did a good job of being happy with what we could see.

This time, dh’s neck is ok, but the boys are now in college and have classes that day. They just can’t get away for a weekend trip, since they’d have to miss classes on both Monday and Tuesday. The oldest has learning disabilities and missing 2 days of classes would completely derail him for the rest of the semester. The youngest lives at home and is over the moon at the idea that he’ll have the house to himself for 3 days. At this point in their lives, they are actually happier to stay put. They feel satisfied with what they saw last time.

DH and I are pretty excited this time around, but hoping there aren’t clouds. We understand that area might be prone to clouds, but we’ll just make do a best we can like last time. Either way, it’ll be a fun little road trip, even if we stay in a dinky hotel and it rains on us 🙂

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Our Backyard.  😉

(I love being able to say that!)

We experienced Totality also in 2017, in our backyard.
I can honestly say it was an amazing experience . . . but it lasted maybe 5 minutes.
It is extremely unsettling experience . . . but it is extremely short!

Edited by Beth S
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41 minutes ago, Garga said:

Not exactly like that—we did have plans to go view it, but my husband injured his neck, so he couldn’t be in the car for that long or his neck pain would have been unbearable. We all had to tamp down our disappointment and make do with what we had, so we drove to an open area locally and we saw it as a partial eclipse. Even though it wasn’t total, it was still impressive and everyone did a good job of being happy with what we could see.

This time, dh’s neck is ok, but the boys are now in college and have classes that day. They just can’t get away for a weekend trip, since they’d have to miss classes on both Monday and Tuesday. The oldest has learning disabilities and missing 2 days of classes would completely derail him for the rest of the semester. The youngest lives at home and is over the moon at the idea that he’ll have the house to himself for 3 days. At this point in their lives, they are actually happier to stay put. They feel satisfied with what they saw last time.

DH and I are pretty excited this time around, but hoping there aren’t clouds. We understand that area might be prone to clouds, but we’ll just make do a best we can like last time. Either way, it’ll be a fun little road trip, even if we stay in a dinky hotel and it rains on us 🙂

Ok so, I remembered portions of it.  Glad you're able to make it this time.  I'll be praying for clears skies for all. 

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Yes!  We are going to Carbondale, Illinois, the same place we experienced the one in 2017.  It’s completely worth traveling for.  The one in 2017 was one of the most transcendent experiences of my life, maybe even more amazing than the birth of my kids, because I was less distracted.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.  If you’ve seen a partial eclipse and were underwhelmed and thus think it’s not worth it, it’s absolutely nothing like a partial.  The difference between 99% totality and 100% is everything. 

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Yes. Our area of Michigan is practically assured to be cloudy. Our grandsons are 8, 4, and 1. So it isn't going to make a lasting impression T, but the other 2 especially N will remember it. We booked a place 4 years ago to make sure we would be able to have somewhere outside of town without light pollution, and a clearing for our telescope because we have sun filters so we can view it through the 12" scope. We are calling it astronomy camp, and have astronomy based activities planned on the 5th, 6th, and 7th for the grand boys.

We will be in Northwest Arkansas.

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2ds was looking at the eclipse map.  He has a lot of online acquaintances in Niagra Falls, and Montreal, and noticed it's going right over them.  1ds's passport is expired.  I'm sure that earned him more than a glare or two . . Or three . . . . Though, 2ds was going to use his companion fare, so he could leave 1ds high and dry and just go by himself . . but they have too much fun together.

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37 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Yes. Our area of Michigan is practically assured to be cloudy. Our grandsons are 8, 4, and 1. So it isn't going to make a lasting impression T, but the other 2 especially N will remember it. We booked a place 4 years ago to make sure we would be able to have somewhere outside of town without light pollution, and a clearing for our telescope because we have sun filters so we can view it through the 12" scope. We are calling it astronomy camp, and have astronomy based activities planned on the 5th, 6th, and 7th for the grand boys.

We will be in Northwest Arkansas.

Even the four year old will remember more than you think.  Do explain what is going on.
I remember watching the Moon Landing.  And I remember watching the reentry for Apollo 13 (and wondering why it was taking longer than "the other one".)  I wish my mother had explained more, but that wasn't something she did.

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24 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

Even the four year old will remember more than you think.  Do explain what is going on.
I remember watching the Moon Landing.  And I remember watching the reentry for Apollo 13 (and wondering why it was taking longer than "the other one".)  I wish my mother had explained more, but that wasn't something she did.

We have been teaching astronomy for quite a while to a wide variety of ages. We are basically treating it like a STEM 4H field trip. 😂 The grandsons might be tired of us by the time they wake up on the 9th!

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We just made a hotel reservation for Canton, OH. It's a teensy bit outside totality, but we will plan to drive somewhere. We live in VA, and it's about an 8 hour drive. We will stay a few days and go to the NFL Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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9 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

In the path of totality so planning to view from our back yard since events will be crowded.

Local schools are in a kerfluffle trying to decide what to do since it’s at dismissal time. Most are either doing a half day or full day off for kids. They’re saying staff has to work all day but I suspect we actually are told to go ahead and leave early. A lot of us already put in for the day off anyways.


I was able to secure a grant for eclipse teaching materials and viewing glasses for our whole district!  
 

that said it will probably be cloudy here- our weather is terrible that time of year

Our district just made the call to dismiss after lunch and let all staff go home without taking personal time. 

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58 minutes ago, scbusf said:

We just made a hotel reservation for Canton, OH. It's a teensy bit outside totality, but we will plan to drive somewhere. We live in VA, and it's about an 8 hour drive. We will stay a few days and go to the NFL Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I went to a wedding at what appeared to be the world's most haunted assisted living home (neither person getting married was a resident there, but they had a big room for rent) next to what looked like a former mental hospital that was the set for a horror movie.  Tiny town but nice people!

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3 hours ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

On the other hand, the fingerlakes area of NY has to be one of the cloudiest places on earth, so I am just crossing my fingers.

Our area is like that too.

We are on the edge of totality and maybe considered in it. Close enough to drive a short distance. We also have relatives more solidly in the path that we could travel to. We’ll see. School is cancelled because of it being at dismissal.

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