Eclipse 2017: Totality Planning

Many months ago, Scott had come to me, put some info on Eclipse 2017 in front of me, and asked me to research the best place in the United States to see the whole phenomenon.  So, I got to work.  There were SO many details and questions to sort through.  What locations are really in the path of totality?  What are the weather conditions likely to be on August 21st in the top locations?  Even six months ahead of time, many of these places were totally booked – so where could we get a room without selling a kidney?

Honestly, there were moments I threw up my hands and walked away from it for a while, frustrated by the whole process.

BUT, I always came back.  My husband, when he so rarely has the time, reads book about the cosmos.  This is a dream of his.  We homeschool… what an amazing educational and just generally incredible family trip?!  There was never a real possibility of not working things out best I could.

None of that was a guarantee though.  We’ve been checking long term forecasts since it was possible to be checking, and reading more and more about the masses of people and traffic tie ups heading into the path of totality.  Craziness.

.

Eclipse 2017:  Arrival

We landed in Portland, Oregon yesterday, and were greeted kindly by the city.

I don’t know how it’s even possible, but 7pm the night before the eclipse, from Portland to Albany, there was very light traffic.  We sailed right down to our hotel, pulled in, parked, and were kind of stunned it was that easy!

We asked at the front desk if there was anywhere people were going to see the eclipse – besides just anywhere you can see the sun.  She shrugged and pointed across the street, a little further down the block, and said that park was probably the easiest thing to do.  And it was!

.

Eclipse 2017:  Our Field of View

I don’t know whether it was worth going to one of the “Eclipse Events” that were all throughout the path of totality.  We didn’t even try, and I had no desire to be crammed in with all of humanity somewhere all day.  The little town park, with ball fields on one side, was wonderful.  The picture above is of KatieRose just as totally started to hit – and you can see how sparse the crowd was.

From the first encroaching of the moon, to the beginning of totality, was an hour and 13 minutes of very slow action.  While we definitely watched on and off, and Katie took a zillion photos and some video (Go <<HERE>> to see Katie’s channel and the video.) We also just sort of entertained ourselves.  Weird family pictures, lounging around, applying sunscreen.  Scott’s theory is actually that the most common injury coming out of the eclipse will be sunburned faces!

.

Eclipse 2017: Photo Win

I love photography, and was hoping to get some good photos.  In the end, it was KatieRose, with her little Canon SX710HS that kicked eclipse-photography’s butt.  She held her camera with the eclipse glass filter over the lens, and photographed her way through the event.

And the payoff, is pretty incredible:

.

Eclipse 2017:  Totality Stuns

Hands down, the highlight was totality.  The temperature started dropping about 15 minutes before it hit, and slowly at first, light dwindled.  People started taking off sunglasses (worn when NOT looking directly at the sun – eclipse glasses were worn for any an all sun-gazing), putting on jackets, and more and more quiet spread through the whole field.

Be sure to check out our Katie’s YouTube video of the trip and the Eclipse <<HERE>>

When totality hit, the sun winked out quite quickly.  We looked around, and it was like twilight.  Gasps rippled and built in the crowd until applause spontaneously erupted, then cheering and whistling.  It was incredibly powerful.

And again, KatieRose ruled the photos.

We just soaked it in during the 2-ish minutes of totality.  Gasping, sometimes talking over one another in hushed tones.  Laughing and a lot of “Oh. My. Gosh.” and other exclamations.

Then, as totality was coming to an end, Katie captured the Diamond Ring effect…

The whole experience was unreal.  Beautiful, chilling, adrenaline producing.

It may have been stressful putting it all together, but before we were even leaving the field, Scott looked at me and said, “I had been thinking that since we saw this one, we wouldn’t worry about traveling to see the eclipse in 2024.  But after seeing this, we are absolutely going.”

No arguments here.

Please share our fun with your friends (the buttons are just below) and Please Follow Us (top right of page) for updates as Katie puts together more photos and video! 😀

.