There simply are no words to describe this experience. All of the plans, all of the exhaustion, all of the preparation, led us to have these 2 1/2 incredible minutes that made everything worth it. In fact, I am already planning to go to the next one in 2024- only next time we will fly and book a hotel years in advance so that Ben will come, too.
Anyway, on Friday (before my trip to Seattle) Joanne and I loaded up my van.
We had so much stuff for one night!
My girlfriend Cindy reserved a spot at Martin's Cove for up to 30 people. About 7 families drove up- most from our church, which was really fun.
Even though in an ideal world we would have left on Saturday to avoid traffic, because of my reunion we couldn't leave until around noon on Sunday. Joann picked me up in the van, and we headed out.
We did run into a little bit of traffic- probably about 20 minutes of back-ups. Not too bad considering the horror stories we were prepared for.
The kids had SO MUCH fun with the hand carts! It was hilarious- they just kept walking around with the carts. It was really cute.
We also stopped by the visitor's center, which was really great.
We got a horrible nights' sleep, and then we woke up bright and early to leave for a tiny dirt road to get to almost the center of the Eclipse.
It was completely organic, and it was wonderful. Cindy's husband, Reid, planned everything out for us. The full Eclipse was at 11:48, but the Eclipse started at 11 AM. We got to our spot on the side of the dirt road at 8:30, so the kids had a couple hours to play. They made up games, Claire and Liesl went to go climb a "mountain", and the adults sat on chairs and talked, etc.
When the Eclipse started, we put on our glasses for a couple minutes, took them off for a few minutes, put them back on to awe at how the sun got smaller and smaller, etc.
Here's the kids with their glasses- aren't they cute?
They loved watching the sun get smaller and smaller, but then when the full Eclipse came out and we took off the glasses and saw the most glorious heavenly experience, all the kids were jumping around in excitement- amazed at what was going on.
Camille was too cute!
I love these pictures because they show how organic this whole experience was. It was like the greatest tail-gate party in the world. Just pulled off on the side of the road in literally the middle of nowhere.
Right before the full Eclipse- you can see the darker clouds and the start of the sunset feel. When the full Eclipse came out, we could see Venus and a couple of stars. It wasn't pitch black, but it was like a dark dusk. Truly, there are no words.
As soon as the Eclipse was over, we quickly packed up the chairs and got on the road. We took back roads through the mountains the whole way, and didn't hit a bit of traffic.
We made it home at 6:45 PM. Ben said, "I really thought you guys would be stuck on the side of the road and unable to get home until tomorrow or Wednesday." Thanks for being our protector Ben. Thanks a lot!
Who wants to go to Cleveland in 2024?? I promise, it really is worth it!
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