It came and it went and it was pretty awesome but now the hype and hoopla is over.
I drove up to Columbia to watch it. I was able to stay with my sister. Columbia was in the path of the totality. This was to be the first total eclipse I would be able to see in the 70 years of my life so I was looking forward to it. I was worried about the weather since thunderstorms, were in the forecast. No problem. There were some clouds but not where we were.
My sister was prepared and had got eclipse glasses for all of us. She had some friends who had come down from North Carolina to watch the eclipse as well. We drove over to a park by the Lake Carolina dam to get a better view of the event. Naturally there were a lot of people there watching as well. Party time!
It was interesting that as the moon was almost in front of the sun, the street lamps turned on. Then, it was on us. Totality. What a sight! The temperature dropped. It was in the 90’s but we really noticed how much cooler it got. I was expecting it to get much darker than it did. We only saw two “stars” which were both planets. One was Venus and I think the other was Jupiter.
Here’s a picture my Bil took at totality.
There were plenty of dogs at the park and none of them howled. I didn’t hear any crickets either, prolly because there were too many people there going “oooh” and “aaaah”. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light on the right side of the eclipse signaling totality was over. Time to put the eclipse glasses back on.
It was certainly worth the drive up to Columbia South Carolina to see this awesome event. The next American total eclipse will be in 2024. After this one, my sister wants to travel to Carbondale Illinois to see it.
Glad ya’ saw it Denny. Here in Central Ohio it only looked like just another, gettin’ ready to rain/bleak day. Later on, probably spurred on by the looks of things, it did rain. Much ado ’bout nuttin’ for us.
Ron, I was a young lad in NE Ohio before my Fathers job took us to KCMO in 72. We lived in Bedford, O, near Cleveland. My older Sister still lives there and I do remember the weather being dismal most of the year.
The Weather Channel said 60-70% chance of rain in Columbia, so Jim Cantore went to Carbondale, Ill. We saw it here, but it was overcast in Carbondale. Karma is a bitch!
I’m in Boise, missed totality by about 20 miles, but it was 99.55% covered. Part of the company is a small call center. They shut it down for the 45 minutes or so around the peak of the eclipse, which I thought was very nice of them to do. Very cool event.
Fine eclipse in mid-TN, snake shadows and all
Drove down from the northwest suburbs of Chicago to Carbondale – 350 miles in 5 1/2 hours, no problem (‘course we left the house at 3am). Hot down there, over 90 degrees. Funky little college town, very friendly. Missed seeing the corona because a large cloud rolled over the sun 5 minutes before totality. Left for home just 1 minute after totality “to beat the crowds”. Yeah, right. Stop-and-go traffic the whole way home. It took us 4 1/2 hours to drive the first 60 miles north on I57, and a total of 14 hours to get home. But the wife & I are now sporting some really cool tee shirts, so all-in-all an okay day.
That blue dot in the upper left part of the high-res photo is the star Regulus in the constellation Leo.
It was a partial Eclipse here in Erie, a predicted 75% one. It did not get very dark & the birds did not pay any attention, no cows mooed & my ragdoll cat slept thru it. Somewhat less then eventful except for one person who took issue with the 75% prediction …..He or she said it was really 76.2 %
Typical Democrat Erieite underachiever who finds problems or issues where they do not exist.
On the coming attractions list in 2024 0r 2025, a full Eclipse is due here right over Erie…Woo Ha! If I am still here then I will watch.
Here in P’cola it was somethin like 83% or so and height at 1335. Natcherly a big ol’ cloud came in ’bout 1320 or so and hung around ’til around 1400. So even if I’d wanted to watch it, I’d not have been able to.
Have seen the Northern Lights, tho, and two separate Green Flash events. Very surreal, that spectral aurora over the bow with an eerie phosphorescence in the ship’s wake on a perfectly still and cloudless night. Gotta be lucky to see a Green Flash — they’re quick and then they’re gone.
Also neat are the sunsets in the western Pacific down around Micronesia when one of the ring-of-fire volcanos sprays ejecta into the stratosphere.
Great memories of bein at sea, even in the storms. Don’t wanna go back, tho. I’m sure my mind has made the memories better than the real thing was.
Watched the NASA feed (well done). Their main base was Charleston SC at the College of Charleston. After the eclipse finished, they interviewed a physics professor about some questions concerning the eclipse. He shared the college had received some strange questions. Monday was “move-in” day at the school and classes started on Tuesday. Several parents complained to the school they were unable to get lodging because of the eclipse, and would the school move the eclipse to another day !
30 miles north of Charleston, thunderstorms , was just like a nighttime thunderstorm for about five minutes. TV coverage at beach was a bit much. On another note, not one Confederate Statue came to life during the eclipse.
Drove 3 hours north to Torrington, WY and got right on the center line. Pretty awesome for 2.5 minutes. Then 8.5 hours and a flat tire getting home. Great experience for our 14 year-old son and got a nice Christmas card picture out of it.
Hope the GOP grows a fucking pair at some point while we can still celebrate Christmas.
I drove up to the SC Welcome Center and watched it there. It took 80 minutes to drive there from Lawrenceville….and 4 hours and 20 minutes to return, and it was still worth it. I’m already planning to take time off to see the next one in the southwest.
We ended up in Turbeville, SC. Nice people. About 20 (including my sister and I) sat on the grass strip between a grocery store and the street and watched it. It was her first eclipse as well. I was at the March 7, 1970 one in Gloucester, VA. Already making plans for 2024.