Unless you saw totality, you did not experience the Great Solar Eclipse of 2017. Even if you saw 99% of the sun blocked you missed out. A gal said she thought she had seen totality before. That is like saying you thought you were pregnant and had a baby once before. I have been to 19 countries and seen a lot of nature. I have seen things that 99.9% of people will never see. But they all pale to that 130 second long spectacle we saw. It was like a black hole in the sky that was lit up all around it.
Last year I did my homework on the best place to view the Great Solar Eclipse of 2017. Zeroed in on east Oregon / west Idaho because of the hot dry summers that are typically cloudless. In November 2016 I went to make hotel reservations. Closest available hotel was in Boise, an hour south of the totality region.
So I spent the next 9 months using google earth to scout out a location and zeroed in on the small town of Huntington OR, population 500 near the Snake river and Idaho border. Nearby was a small campground on the Snake river. Rural, no city lights to interfere. So the plan was the wife and I would get up early and drive to the campground for the eclipse. I also came up with plans B, C, D, etc in case that plan failed.
As August 21 approached the eclipse got more and more attention and more and more talk of crowds and traffic. Driving up from San Diego freeway signs in Utah and Idaho warned of heavy traffic on Monday. Radio was nonstop talk of traffic events in Oregon. Since Huntington was such a tiny town I began to mentally toss it out as a location. As we got to Boise we decided to head up to Huntington just to see how bad things were before checking into the hotel. We got there, and there were campers, but my spot on the Snake river still had vacancies. I was in shock. Maybe 50 families can fit into this site and we can still get in. My wife and I looked at each other with the same thought - if we drive up in the morning and we hit traffic causing us to miss totality we will kick each other for the rest of our lives. So we decided to sleep in the car, paying for the Boise hotel anyway so we had a place to go to the next night.
When we arrived August 20 in Huntington it was mostly cloudy. I told my wife we have done all we can do, now it is up to God what happens.
So as we finished our trail mix and dried fruit dinner, this huge wind started. Strong enough to shake the car. By midnight the sky was clear and filled with stars. Woke up to a perfect day for the eclipse. We walked down to the river, set up the chairs and equipment and waited. Only one other couple was on the shore with us, everyone else was at the campground.
Just holding the iPhone up to the solar telescope as it got darker and the landscape became more and more sepia.
It slowly got darker and darker, but still a lot of light. Even as the moon was almost covering the sun there was a lot of light. Then the lights went out. It was like a light switch. Everything went dark and stars came out. A 360 degree sunset appeared. This is not my photo, but is the closest I could find that shows what we saw with the naked eye.
You could even see the solar flares. If you saw totality, you know what I mean when I say words cannot describe it.
The sun is huge in comparison to the moon. But it also just the right distance from the sun to perfectly cover it. Only earth experiences a solar eclipse like we do. Some may say coincidence, but I believe it is part of the design. We are already thinking about the 2024 solar eclipse. If you saw totality you know what I mean about being a two minute addict.
Last year I did my homework on the best place to view the Great Solar Eclipse of 2017. Zeroed in on east Oregon / west Idaho because of the hot dry summers that are typically cloudless. In November 2016 I went to make hotel reservations. Closest available hotel was in Boise, an hour south of the totality region.
So I spent the next 9 months using google earth to scout out a location and zeroed in on the small town of Huntington OR, population 500 near the Snake river and Idaho border. Nearby was a small campground on the Snake river. Rural, no city lights to interfere. So the plan was the wife and I would get up early and drive to the campground for the eclipse. I also came up with plans B, C, D, etc in case that plan failed.
As August 21 approached the eclipse got more and more attention and more and more talk of crowds and traffic. Driving up from San Diego freeway signs in Utah and Idaho warned of heavy traffic on Monday. Radio was nonstop talk of traffic events in Oregon. Since Huntington was such a tiny town I began to mentally toss it out as a location. As we got to Boise we decided to head up to Huntington just to see how bad things were before checking into the hotel. We got there, and there were campers, but my spot on the Snake river still had vacancies. I was in shock. Maybe 50 families can fit into this site and we can still get in. My wife and I looked at each other with the same thought - if we drive up in the morning and we hit traffic causing us to miss totality we will kick each other for the rest of our lives. So we decided to sleep in the car, paying for the Boise hotel anyway so we had a place to go to the next night.
When we arrived August 20 in Huntington it was mostly cloudy. I told my wife we have done all we can do, now it is up to God what happens.
So as we finished our trail mix and dried fruit dinner, this huge wind started. Strong enough to shake the car. By midnight the sky was clear and filled with stars. Woke up to a perfect day for the eclipse. We walked down to the river, set up the chairs and equipment and waited. Only one other couple was on the shore with us, everyone else was at the campground.
Just holding the iPhone up to the solar telescope as it got darker and the landscape became more and more sepia.
It slowly got darker and darker, but still a lot of light. Even as the moon was almost covering the sun there was a lot of light. Then the lights went out. It was like a light switch. Everything went dark and stars came out. A 360 degree sunset appeared. This is not my photo, but is the closest I could find that shows what we saw with the naked eye.
You could even see the solar flares. If you saw totality, you know what I mean when I say words cannot describe it.
The sun is huge in comparison to the moon. But it also just the right distance from the sun to perfectly cover it. Only earth experiences a solar eclipse like we do. Some may say coincidence, but I believe it is part of the design. We are already thinking about the 2024 solar eclipse. If you saw totality you know what I mean about being a two minute addict.
