Eclipse Day!!!

We were up early Monday (8/21) and my honey made us omelets 

before we picked up Susan & Joe and headed out for our eclipse adventure!  Always remember……ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!!!!  We were headed towards Windemere….a small town that we could get to on small back roads (thus avoiding traffic).  After some initial mistakes (we were headed to the wrong state park because our guide mis-read it on the map  :~) we finally arrived at Chester State Park.  They were going to experience 99.8% totality, but we kept driving south to hit 100%.  When we were 12 miles outside of Windemere, we saw a BBQ place with a LARGE and SHADED parking lot (not to mention at bathroom!!!) and all deicded that that was the perfect place.  

We pulled in, set up our chairs and relaxed, knit, read, ate and talked:  

Susan, Joe, Michael

There was a constant stream of cars continuing to Windemere, but eventually many people decided we had the right idea and they pulled in as well.  At 1:16 PM the eclipse began.  I really don’t have any words to describe it….it was an incredible experience to see it.  I tried to look every 10 minutes so that I could see the change.  It was amazing to me to realize just how powerful the sun is.  When only a tiny sliver remained, it was still daylight.  At 2:45 we had totality and we all took off our glasses to see the corona….BREATHTAKING!  No wonder scientists (and others) travel all over the globe to see it.  I’ve already told Michael if he wants to travel to see another one…I’m there  :~).  

I'm sure your local paper will have much better pictures....a small hand held camera can't do much....besides...we were too busy looking ourselves...it was incredible!!!  We did not stay for the ‘uncovering’, but got on the road toot sweet to beat the traffic.  We ran into one couple who drove down here from upstate New York, and they were stuck for 5 hours on I-95 and only moved 45 miles!!!!  We were home by 4 PM and we could still see a tiny “bite’ out of the sun….which was quickly gone.  This was a thrilling experience….one I’m so glad my honey got us to do.  But I guess the sleeplessness of the past 2 nights and all of the driving finally caught up with me….I was in bed by 8:30 PM.