Innisfree Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 (edited) We were able to see a couple of glimpses through the clouds right before and after totality, and then of course the clouds started to clear significantly once totality was over. The darkness was amazing, even though we couldn’t see the eclipse itself at that moment. We traveled a fairly long distance, but no regrets. We planned a mini vacation around this experience, so we’d be in a place that interests us regardless of what happened with the eclipse. Dh is saying now that we should fly to Spain for the next one. Guess that means it was worth the trip. 😁 Edited April 8 by Innisfree 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Apologizing to those you feel it is just a crappy thing to do to travel for it, and no big deal. Don't read further please. Our grandsons thought it was amazing. Mark used the spotting scope with a sun filter to project the eclipse on white paper so they could watch it without having to stare up for so long with their glasses. The animals here became very quiet, and a hawk landed maybe 50 ft away and just sat during totality. We got some nice pictures using ISO filter film for the lenses of our cell phones. We had a very remote location. We are at a ranch house in the mountains of NW Arkansas. We rolled in with all of our meals planned, every single thing we would need packed. We went into a quaint town the first day to seek our locally made items or farm market because we like to support local businesses when we do something like this. I scored some really nice lemon goat milk soap and bought several bars and some honey from a local lady, fresh milk, and some hand knit dish rags to take home. I love those things, but seem to be incapable of learning to knit. Play the Rach 2 Concerto? Sure, no worries. Make hands coordinate knitting needles? Totally beyond my brain ability. 🤣 We leave at 5:30 am tomorrow. Dd and family will leave around 9am. They only have to drive back Alabama and will be taking side roads in order to avoid Memphis. We will be using side roads nearly the whole way until we make it to I80 and pick I 94E into Michigan. Hopefully no traffic jams by avoiding the interstates. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 12 minutes ago, Faith-manor said: Hopefully no traffic jams by avoiding the interstates. My DH and three of the kids were just outside of Indianapolis for the eclipse (had amazing weather), left right after totality, and are making great time coming back north to Michigan. They are almost halfway home, already to Fort Wayne, and at this rate the return trip will take about the same as driving there - and that didn't take any longer than any other day. The highway is flowing at full speed, and they should be home by bedtime. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 6 minutes ago, wendyroo said: My DH and three of the kids were just outside of Indianapolis for the eclipse (had amazing weather), left right after totality, and are making great time coming back north to Michigan. They are almost halfway home, already to Fort Wayne, and at this rate the return trip will take about the same as driving there - and that didn't take any longer than any other day. The highway is flowing at full speed, and they should be home by bedtime. Thanks! Good to know! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 20 hours ago, Terabith said: 97% is couldn’t care less. So is 99%. Totality is life changing and transcendent. Yes. This was my first experience of totality and it was absolutely magical. I did wonder if it would be worth all the driving and hotel and planning and everything. But when it went total and people cheered it was just absolutely thrilling. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Back at our Airbnb. We had very little traffic and even though we had high clouds, the eclipse was amazing. I was so glad to be there with my three children (although dh had to work and couldn’t come). We rarely get to do anything with most of us together, and this eclipse was perfect with them. I had one sister in Illinois and one in Vermont. It was fun to text them throughout the eclipse and share it with them. We ended up watching in a cemetery with practically no people around. It was perfect. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 (edited) We would have had 98% at home. We drove 1.5 hours and hiked for an hour to a tall bluff overlooking a river, a worthy destination for honoring the event. One other couple there. It was majestic. Pic is at 1:59pm. Edited April 8 by regentrude 21 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 1 hour ago, regentrude said: We would have had 98% at home. We drove 1.5 hours and hiked for an hour to a tall bluff overlooking a river, a worthy destination for honoring the event. One other couple there. It was majestic. Pic is at 1:59pm. A hike to experience without crowds sounds wonderful! We rented a place in the mountains on a working ranch, but the home was WAY away from light sources. We have had lovely night sky viewing and a perfect day for the eclipse. Just us, our dd and son in law, and 3 grandkids. None of our other kids could get vacation from their jobs or time off from grad school. So not having them was a little sad. Still, it was very special. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 these are from my son's girlfriend - if you look at the blanket you'll see very cool crescent shadows 12 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 I'm so jealous of all of you that were able to see it. I had hoped to travel, but it didn't work out with the dog's issues and the drama. I was hoping to take my colander outside during the partial (we were supposedly at 94%), but they overbooked me with patients (and one had a medical emergency.) I'm so bummed. Living vicariously through everyone's pictures. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 15 minutes ago, Soror said: these are from my son's girlfriend - if you look at the blanket you'll see very cool crescent shadows You can see a little valley in the moon at the bottom of the corona picture. I think they called it the diamond ring. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 I flew to Atlanta then drove 6.5hrs with my brother and sister to southern IL. Glad I got to experience this. The weather was perfect. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyMom5 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 We were in totality, the first time I've ever scene it. Very cool! I've watched an eclipse before, but never at totality- huge difference! I found it amazing how once a tiny crack of sun came back out, the sky lightened immediately. We had fun with shadows, too. Overall a very fun day that we will remember! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 3 hours ago, Sunshine State Sue said: I flew to Atlanta then drove 6.5hrs with my brother and sister to southern IL. Glad I got to experience this. The weather was perfect. Hey, we might have been nearby each other! I was in Carbondale! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 We traveled to a friend's house 2 hours away for the last totality. I remember it being darker last time. The sky was clear both times so I don't know why that would be the case. Maybe I'm misremembering it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Mark projected the eclipse with our spotting scope onto white paper for our grandsons so they didn't have to spend so much time with their necks cranked looming up. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 4 hours ago, Terabith said: Hey, we might have been nearby each other! I was in Carbondale! We were at Saluki Stadium! Dang. I would have loved to meet you. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 We did not travel. Monday was the first day back from Spring Break so it was just not feasible. I thought totality was 90 min. away. I was looking at the wrong eclipse map ( I think I was looking at the 2017 one!) and we were about 5 hours away from any totality. We saw what we could here locally and I am good with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Ds drove back after the eclipse and the normal 6 hour drive took 8 hours, so not terrible. He was hoping for 7. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartstrings Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 (edited) 2 hours ago, Soror said: We traveled to a friend's house 2 hours away for the last totality. I remember it being darker last time. The sky was clear both times so I don't know why that would be the case. Maybe I'm misremembering it. I know one of the talking heads mentioned that the sun was sitting low in the sky yesterday, I wonder if that makes a difference? Edited April 9 by Heartstrings 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 (edited) It was darker last time for us viewing the eclipse from Idaho than it was this time in Texas. I wondered if the moon was slightly farther from the earth this time? Edited April 9 by maize 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toocrazy!! Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 I was thinking it would be darker too. we traveled a couple hours to my brother’s house to be in totality. No traffic there or back. We did see one star in the sky. The weather turned out much better than expected and was clear and sunny. It was a great experience. Totality was cool, but I do enjoy the process of the moon covering the sun too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 43 minutes ago, Toocrazy!! said: I was thinking it would be darker too. we traveled a couple hours to my brother’s house to be in totality. No traffic there or back. We did see one star in the sky. The weather turned out much better than expected and was clear and sunny. It was a great experience. Totality was cool, but I do enjoy the process of the moon covering the sun too. That star was probably Venus (was it to the right and a bit down from the sun?), usually only seen on the horizon. Dh and I traveled and met up with a fellow boardie for the eclipse. We struggled a bit to figure out the best place to go in our area, because there was so much cloud coverage and we might have missed it if we picked the wrong spot to venture to from our hotel, but it worked out. There were clouds coming and going all day, keeping us on our toes, but they cleared up when it got cold once the sun was mostly covered and dissipated so we could see the eclipse. We went to a stadium with other people. Part of me would have liked being out in the woods alone, and part of me liked sharing it with others. There were spontaneous whoops of pure joy all around the stadium when the sun winked out. Totally worth DH’s stressing out over where the best place would be to watch with the least clouds and worth the 10-hour round trip. Still in the hotel. Will head out soon. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 4 hours ago, Sunshine State Sue said: We were at Saluki Stadium! Dang. I would have loved to meet you. Oh man! I was on campus but we went to Chatauqua Bottoms Nature Reserve. It was really neat to see the way the animals responded. It sounded like the stadium had an incredible experience with tons of things going on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 (edited) As I said upthread, we traveled Monday from Virginia to Indianapolis for a swim meet yesterday (initially from Georgia). We stopped at a random rest stop in Indiana for the Eclipse. It was worth it. I was with my daughter and her coach and have some wonderful photos of them enjoying it. I had plenty of glasses so shared them with the many truckers who did not have any. I was glad to share with the very appreciative OTR drivers. Edited April 9 by zimom 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 It was amazing to watch totality from our backyard! We had a gorgeous view of the twilight on the lake and mountains we can see from our home. My parents watched from our hot tub even. And it was our first beautiful sunny spring day so the whole neighborhood was outside together, like a party. We’re all sunburned lol. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTVKath Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 We finally got home late last night. Thank you to any of y'all from Arkansas who let us come view totality from your beautiful state!!!!!! Everyone we met was nice and fun to talk to - locals and tourists. We're from Georgia so we got off the barely moving interstates and took the slow route home across the Mississippi delta. Lots of gorgeous scenery and sweet towns. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 We had a wonderful time. I mentioned the eclipse in a family chat with my siblings over a year ago and we made spontaneous plans to rent a big AirBnB in Texas and watch together. We ended up with all 10 siblings plus my mom there, and a majority of the grandkids; eclipse + family reunion made for an excellent combination! We had excellent weather for viewing-- some scattered clouds and a clear view of totality. 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 Surplus Eclipse Glasses can be mailed to this address, by Aug. 1: Eclipse Glasses USA PO Box 50571 Provo, UT 84605 They'll get them to children in Hawaii & Latin America for October's Eclipse. https://www.westkentuckystar.com/News/State/Donate-your-eclipse-glasses-to-kids-in-Latin-Ameri 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 We flew from Orlando to Detroit, then drove from there to Sandusky, Ohio and stayed with DH's aunt and uncle. His whole father's side of his family live in that area, and some he hadn't seen since he was a kid. So we got the eclipse AND basically a family reunion out of it. For the actual eclipse we went downtown and watched from the Jackson Street Pier - they had live music and food trucks and such. A big horn blew at the start and end of totality. Weather was PERFECT with just some high hazy clouds but you could totally see everything. The sky got dark, you could see venus, and a flock of seagulls took off toward the islands where they roost. It was amazing. DS11 said it looked like " there was a hole in the sky!" 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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