We were a little south of Dallas and the weather reports were nerve-wracking, but happily the weather gods were with us. Pixel 7 camera did better than I expected
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We went to Rochester (family there, and we knew we were taking a risk). It was a total bust. Couldn’t see the sun AT ALL.
We experienced totality in 2017 (or 2018?), but not this time.
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We drove to a state park east of Carbondale ILL. We made a day of it, so arrived early for a picnic and stayed after for a hike. While the campgrounds were full, there was plenty of space and parking. The skies were clear and we enjoyed 3+ minutes of totality. Honestly, the experience could not have been better. Perfect viewing in a perfect location!
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Got home and finally downloaded my photos
We had a great 3 week trip visiting 7 national parks between CA and TX. I think Carlsbad Caverns was my favorite.
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Which parks did you visit? We just got back from a 5 day trip to Big Bend National Park.
I saw it in a small town in southern Illinois and it was amazing. Totality was completely different from the partial stages. I went to a copse of trees to observe the birds but they didn’t seem to notice that the sky was dark! It was a beautiful cloudless day and there was a lot of camaraderie among the 100 or so people in this small town city park experiencing the eclipse.
The interstate highways were bumper to bumper but we were able to get to the zone of totality on small country roads and had little traffic.
We went to:
Joshua Tree NP
Saguaro NP
White Sands NP
Big Bend NP
Carlsbad Caverns NP
Guadalupe Mountains NP
Los Alamos (Manhattan Project NHP)
Bandelier NM
Petrified Forest NP
Hubbell Trading Post NHS
Canyon de Chelly NM
Walnut Canyon NM
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Wow, that’s amazing. Lots of fantastic nature!
Has anyone seen any stats for the US on eclipse related eye injuries?
Nearly 30 cases of eclipse-related eye damage reported in Quebec so far | CBC News
Ready for a laugh? A friend works at a library that held an eclipse viewing event. It started about 1:30 and included some informational stuff as well as the actual viewing…and refreshments.
A person called the library and wanted to know why this event was being held in the middle of the afternoon when most people were either working or at school.
Honestly…
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What an experience that was! It was VERY challenging getting to our cabin - the logging road wasn’t plowed, to our surprise, so DH had to make a couple of 18-mile round trips on the snowmobile to get the first couple of people up there. Then we met our friend at the end of the logging road and he gave a couple of us rides from there (5 miles each way). We left our house at 9 am and didn’t get the whole group inside until almost 8 pm! But my daughter went up first, and all by herself started a fire and figured out how to get the generator and propane stove going. By the time I got up there, the lights were on, the cabin was warm, and my sister in law was making spaghetti. The first photo was taken exactly 24 hours before the eclipse. We couldn’t believe that the sun was in such a perfect position - it was like the cabin was designed for this moment. We could sit on the front porch and watch the whole thing!
We were there from Saturday evening to Tuesday morning. There was a dramatic warmup in temperature during that time. It was 65 when the eclipse started, and fell to 59 during totality. On Monday, DH managed to get the car and snowmobile trailer down the logging road to within 1 1/2 miles of our camp - it was very hairy. By the time we left Tuesday morning, the road was very muddy and slippery. I was literally praying the whole way! There’s one stretch where you have to go up a steep hill and then curve to the left. DH had to go fast enough to get up the hill, but then stay in control to go around the curve. He was saying, “No car, no car, no car,” because an oncoming vehicle would have been disastrous. As soon as we had rounded the curve and gone a few yards, there was a car. A close call!
It’s an experience none of us will ever forget. Photos don’t do it justice.
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I was surprised how many people didn’t make the trip to see totality. They really didn’t understand how different 99% is from totality.
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@MaineLonghorn , oh that view! I see why you bought that cabin😍
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It was a labor of love. We bought the land in 1990. DH and his friends did the initial clearing for the 1/2-mile road up the hill, then we paid a local guy to put in the road.
We hired a builder who brought in a machine to mill logs from trees cut on our property. They had to dry for a year. In a meantime, it was a family affair to put in the basement with CMU block walls.
We didn’t realize that logs will turn black while they’re drying out! So we enlisted some friends and we scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed.
After the shell was built, DH did the finish work, including a beautiful set of stairs and upstairs handrails. We started using the cabin in 2004 and we’re almost done building it, ha.
The great thing was that we did everything so gradually that we paid for it as we went along, so we didn’t have to take out any loans for it.
It’s off grid. We have a 1000-gallon cistern in the basement. DH rigged up a system to filter and collect rainwater off the roof. Then we have a pump that runs off a generator, so we have a toilet, shower and tap water (the filtered water is safe to drink).
It’s not for the faint of heart, but we like it. 
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were you able to catch the bats taking flight at dusk? an amazing sight
Unfortunately we were a few weeks too early, most of the bats hadn’t returned yet.
You win the eclipse! 
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A colleague who taught astronomy had a similar experience—about once a month he would hold optional viewing nights in the HS parking lot, setting up his telescope, etc. One time a police cruiser pulled in to inquire what they were all doing. After explaining what was up , the cop replied “but school is in the daytime, not at night!”
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