I was on the beach at Newport, Oregon in 2017, the first place the path of totality touched the US. I was living a bit outside the path, and my mom was coming to visit. I was sort of casual about it, like, if can get within the path, cool, if not, oh well, we’re close.
My mom had seen one as a young kid, and she emphasized that it was really worth seeing totality. We got a camping spot in Newport for it.
The morning of the eclipse, there was dense fog on the beach. Just about 10 or 15 minutes before totality, the fog completely cleared. As it got closer, it got colder. The wind shifted. It was eerie.
Totality was amazing. It was dark. All the birds started flying around.
This picture doesn’t do it justice, but you can see the birds flying.
And, speaking of pictures, I didn’t believe that taking pictures of the sun would damage a digital camera without a sun filter. But it certainly did. You can see in that photo, on the right, there’s a small dark circle. That was permanently burned into the camera after taking eclipse pictures.
Unless all the land under the path of totality gets super unlucky, most any North American who has a car, a smartphone, and can take a few days off work should be able to see this eclipse. Watch the weather forecasts carefully, and be ready to drive half a continent if that’s what it takes to find a non-overcast area. For the last one, South Carolina was closest to where I lived, but I saw the weather forecasts and drove to Tennessee instead. Great experience, will do it again if I possibly can.
In 2017 we planned to be in southeast Nebraska, but it would be overcast and there was time so my group drove a ways further west. Totality of about two and a half minutes, and the eleven hour round trip was worth it. I am from NE Kansas and not that far from totality. I hear that for 2024 there will be up to four minutes of totality.
Five years ago today, on 21 August 2017, a total solar eclipse traversed the USA’s lower 48 states. It began in Salem, Oregon and going east across CONUS, the ‘path of totality’ crossed or touched 13 states before it exited to the Atlantic Ocean from Charleston, South Carolina.
After the coming eclipse in October 2024, the next eclipses over CONUS won’t be until August 2045 and March 2052.
Just made VRBO reservations for a few nights in Dripping Springs, TX around the 2024 eclipse - 2 minutes, 58 seconds totality there. I’m in the Pittsburgh, PA area and I’m close to a few areas that will see totality, but I’m worried that it’ll be too cloudy in the NE in April. My daughter and I have always wanted to visit Austin, TX, so we’ll make a vacation out of it and spend a few days there, too.
But, you know how Murphy’s Law works, don’t you? By making those reservations and when you go, you’ve virtually guaranteed clear skies for the duration of totality in the Erie / Cleveland area!
You will love Austin and the TX Hill Country! If you like BBQ, I recommend going to The Salt Lick in Driftwood TX. There are other good BBQs around there but The Salt Lick in Driftwood has a very down to earth ambiance.
There’s also Black’s BBQ in Lockhart TX.
Over at the Gruene Dance Hall in New Braunfels TX catch a live band and have a drink there. Or maybe dance, even! Built in 1878, it is the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas. Or so they claim. Anyway, Gruene is pronounced green.
And then there’s LBJ’s Presidential Library on the UT campus in Austin.
Any and all recommendations welcome! I’ll start my travel file with these. Thanks so much! Might as well drink and dance under the cloudy Austin skies while my friends in Buffalo are enjoying the full eclipse.
I’m preparing for the annular solar eclipse next month. I’ll be in one of my favorite places, Monument Valley. I’m starting to get excited about it. And so this eclipse, the total solar eclipse, is only five months away.
I’ve made plans to be near San Antonio for it. My wife and I will be about an hour NW of there. The skies should be clear there, in central Texas. Hopefully! We will drive out from San Francisco.
Will anyone else be near San Antonio? Maybe we can have a mini Dope Fest.
About 15 years ago I bought my cowboy hat in San Antonio. I wear it on occasion. I’ll have to remember to bring it for the eclipse. There’s not many opportunities to wear it here in San Francisco. Here is me in it. This picture has become my profile picture for Zoom, and for MS Teams before I retired. I also include my boot camp picture. We all were young, once.
The last eclipse was total over the house of my wife’s best friend from college. We went to visit for it, and had a perfect view. A few miles away at the university they had people in the stadium watching - and a cloud moved over the sun at just the wrong time.
Next year she has family coming - but it is total or near total over our daughter’s house. So a great reason to visit and see the eclipse and our grandkids.
My plans got blown up, so instead of Waco, I will be in Dallas Park Central. Does anyone know if I will need to go anywhere closer cause I would rather avoid the traffic if at all possible.
Thank you, it looks good on all of the maps I can find too, but I probably won’t be very mobile when the next one happens so I want to do this one right
I’ll be wherever the school Astronomy Club decides to be on that day. That might be the soccer field next to the school, or it might be someplace out of town with a better weather forecast (Cleveland is notorious for cloud cover). Where I definitely won’t be, however, is whatever professional development they have planned for that day (unless the professional development consists of “Watch the eclipse with the astronomy club”).
