Twice Night

It was solar eclipse day and it was a long time in preparation for our family leading up to today.   We were invited by some close friends to join them many months ago.   Initially we were going to Charleston, South Carolina but changed locations to past Knoxville, Tennessee due to poor weather conditions in Charleston.   The change in venue turned out to be a good one because the weather in Charleston was poor and where we were in Tennessee at a state park was cloudless and perfect conditions, albeit hot.

Due to the lack of hotel rooms close to the totality zone we were about an hour-and-a-half away last night from the location we planned on viewing the eclipse but the travel day yesterday went without incident, the hotel was quite nice and the friends we met there were fun and happy company.

We went to sleep early so we could get up and drive to the site by seven o’clock in the morning to secure a good place.    Once we arrived there we had only to wait until the eclipse started.   That turned out to be a lot of fun to my son who discovered the two older boys with our group were avid Minecraft players.   They joined a server on one of their phones and played together.   The two girls didn’t want to be left out, my daughter asking if I could install Minecraft on her iPad so she could play too.   That’s right, she can see enough to do something on hers.   She asked for a lot of help, but she participated in her own way and wasn’t dismayed that she couldn’t do that much.  

When the eclipse started everyone was excited.   Seeing the sun being “eaten” by the moon with our protective glasses was something many of us had never experienced before.   Almost ninety minutes later and we were ready for the totality of the full eclipse.   As the eclipse progressed we noticed a few things:

• The heat of the sun was diminishing significantly as more and more of it was covered even though it appeared very bright still
• The color of light was strange.   It wasn’t like cloud cover.   It wasn’t like sunrise or sunset.   It was somehow different causing even the grass to have a strange almost blue-like appearance. 
• Shortly before full coverage even the bugs in the woods got into the experience, starting to make nighttime noises
• Just before the last seconds taking a quick glance up in the direction of the sun could still dazzle you because our sun is just that powerful a star.

And then it was time.   The dimness of the sun was slow and gradual until right at the end and then it went from light to night in less than a minute.   It was astounding.   I didn’t expect to be moved by the experience like I was but when it was safe to look up and the sun was a shimmering corona of light bending around the gravity of the moon I realized what an incredible experience we were witnessing.   

Everyone cheered.   I was videoing the last minute with my cell phone and so far I’ve replayed the video four times already because it was just that amazing.    We looked up and saw stars.   There was a very bright planet clearly visible. 

We were not only in the totality zone, we were in the very center of the totality and we got to experience two-and-a-half minutes of the sun as a corona hidden behind the moon.   And then the false night was over just as quickly as it had come.   

I’d like to tell you we stayed around for the next ninety minutes as the moon receded from in front of the sun but we didn’t.   We did quick hugs goodbye and bolted.   We were deep in a state park and knew beating both traffic out and getting to superchargers before there was a queue would make our late arrival home not even later. 

We’re finishing our second charging stop now and have made it the trip home with very little in the way of traffic and waits, although we’ve gotten to the charging spots with luck before there was a line.   It’ll be a late night and a lot of driving for the short time the eclipse took place, but on the whole, it was absolutely worth experiencing a day that had two nights.  

The Big Boy Update:   I made a mistake and brought my son’s old crocs instead of his newer, larger ones.   I didn’t realize he’d had a blister worn from two days of wearing them.   This afternoon he was quite upset about it because it was painful, exclaiming angrily, “it’s all because of the stupid eclipse!”  (He did have a good time on the trip otherwise though.)

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  We’re in the car driving home while I write this.   I hadn’t been typing for long in the front seat when my daughter said, “Mom, let me guess—blog post?”  I said she was correct but how did she know?  She told me with confidence, “ I just know the way of life.”   She was eating some little tiny crackers with the admonition to be careful not to spill them.   A short while later she had finished the crackers and announced, “ I got less than one on the floor”.  We asked how she could spill less than one and she said, “that’s zero!  You know, zero.”