The Great American Eclipse - Aug. 21, 2017

[All-American]

Where did you go?

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Glendo, Wyoming. Some douche directing traffic wouldn't let us go toward the freeway entrance a mile a way, and instead directed is down the slammed state road which ran 15 miles in the wrong direction.

It's almost one o'clock and I still have an hour left to drive. I made the drive to the site in four hours this morning.

But the eclipse was unreal. Totally worth it.

[Lost Student]

My brother left Idaho Falls about 2 hours ago headed to SLC. After about 1 1/2 hours, they had only traveled 25 miles--so he decided to head back here and try again tomorrow morning.

[Pelado]

Looks like we're amending our plan again. We're renting a boat and heading up to Black Canyon tomorrow tonight. We'll try to camp nearby and then get back on the water after the eclipse. That way we don't have to worry about an early morning drive from town.

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We ended up modifying the plan again.

Earlier in the week, it seemed as though we'd be able to check out the boat early Sunday afternoon. So we decided to get the boat and use it at the reservoir that afternoon and then just camp overnight nearby. We planned to then go back to the reservoir after the eclipse.

However, it turned out that the boat wasn't going to be ready to check out until late Sunday night. We had already done all the prep to go up that afternoon to camp, for which the kids were pretty excited. So we just went camping instead and postponed the boat reservation for another day.

I've taken our 12-year-old son to Father and Son campouts with our ward quite a few times, plus he goes camping with the Scouts most every month. My wife had not been camping for at least 15 years. My 9-year-old daughter had gone to a Girls Scout camp, but they didn't even pitch their tents outdoors. My 8-year-old daughter had never been camping.

Everyone seemed to have a pretty good time with the camping trip and each of the kids described the total eclipse as "epic". My 9-year-old said it (camping, eclipse, etc.) was better than Disneyland. She is, however, somewhat prone to hyperbole and recency bias.


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[Lost Student]

My favorite picture of the ones NASA posted. I took off my eclipse glasses just a little before it was completely dark to try to catch a glimpse of the Bailey's Beads (the last rays of the sun shining through moon valleys). I read that it's not harmful only because it is so quick. I saw them for just a brief moment before totality arrived. Really cool and hopefully I didn't screw up my eyesight.

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Also interesting was how quickly it went from day to night. At first, over about 15 minutes it sort of seemed like clouds moving in--just a gradual and slight decrease in the sun's intensity. Then over about 10 minutes the sky steadily and rapidly grew dimmer while the temperature dropped. It was surprising how quick it happened. Kind of like a sunset on fast forward. During this time, shadows were higher contrast than normal. I put some paper on the ground and stood with my arm extended to cast its shadow on the paper. You could see the individual hairs on my arm in the shadow.

During the time before totality we spotted Venus. Then, during totality, we could see Mercury just to the lower left of the sun.

Of course taking off the glasses and looking at the sun's corona was the highlight of the eclipse. It didn't look real, but there it was. I know there's a few people in this thread poo-pooing the eclipse, but I recommend that if you have a chance to see a total eclipse, take it. Some people in other venues are saying stupid stuff like "the eclipse is a life-changing event" or "it helped me feel one with the Universe." No, it's not IMO (I believe my life will not change in any meaningful way as a result of seeing the total eclipse) but it's very interesting and not something you get to see often. I mean, isn't that why anybody travels for fun? To see new and interesting sights/experiences? I would not rule out planning a trip around the timing of a total eclipse because it was a so cool. I'm really glad my kids got the chance to see it with their cousins, too.

[Lost Student]

Here's a couple of pictures of the crazy shadows of leaves a few minutes after totality.
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[Pelado]

Totality was amazing. Seven hours later, we were closer to home then than now. This traffic is amazing.

Where did you go?

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[All-American]

Totality was amazing. Seven hours later, we were closer to home then than now. This traffic is amazing.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Terrestial only.

Maybe one of you guys will offer me a day pass up a level or two.

[wuapinmon]

Also, traffic coming home was slow. Took us over an hour for a drive that in normal traffic would be 45-50 minutes.

This was our route. There were maybe 100 people in the entire park, including about 20 Amish. https://goo.gl/maps/5XKW3HxTEou

[LiveCoug]

61% eclipse was AMAZING! It got so dark here, it felt like a cloud had covered the sun for a minute or two!

Some random lady on the street in San Marcos Texas let me borrow her cool glasses. That was pretty neat.

[Clark Addison]

Seeing the eclipse was pretty awesome. I've seen two or three partials before, and agree with many that it is a very "meh" experience. Seeing the totality this time was pretty cool.

On the other hand, the 4 hour drive home was not cool (normally about 90 minutes).

[Pelado]

Also, traffic coming home was slow. Took us over an hour for a drive that in normal traffic would be 45-50 minutes.

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[Pelado]

Pics?

I took a couple of pictures on my phone at totality, but they don't capture anything close to what it really looked like or felt like. Pretty cool (figuratively and literally).

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[Lost Student]

Well, maybe in the next life. Can you see these things in the Telestial?

Terrestial only.

[wuapinmon]

2 mins 33 seconds of totality in Sumter County, out in the middle of nowhere in a state forest. Frickin' awesome. I could see red flares along the bottom from the corona. I remember being blown away by the one in 1984; this one was better.