Memories from the solar eclipse

Date: 21 August 2017
Destination: Charleston, SC (450 miles great circle distance to home)
Viewing spot: Boone Hall Plantation, Mt. Pleasant, SC

Getting there:

Michael and Edwin were camping at Harper's Ferry with the Boy Scouts on August 18, 19, coming back on August 20, the day before the eclipse.  It was Edwin's first Boy Scout camping trip.  Donna had been scoping out hotels to see the eclipse, and found one in Charleston, SC, in the path of totality.  But since cell coverage in WV is spotty at best, she could only text with Michael.... But the plan was made about 48 hours in advance of the eclipse.

So when Edwin and Michael returned on August 20, it was a quick repack, and everyone got in the car to go.  We left home at 1:55pm, and arrived safely around 2:15am.

The traffic was initially just the usual around DC, but when we got south of the city, Google Maps showed DC "bleeding" red (traffic) into Richmond...  There was a big pulse of traffic, which may well have been eclipse-goers.  We managed to beat the pulse by shifting over to Route 1, and then back onto I-95.

But, as it happens, there was more traffic going the other way, back northwards to DC.  Apparently this was the beach traffic returning home Sunday evening for work the next day.

Along the way, the kids discussed what was to happen, and concluded that "night time is a 12 hour eclipse".

Pre-totality:

Traffic was not bad getting to our chosen viewing spot, and we got a good parking spot there.  Once the eclipse began, we tried the mylar "eclipse glasses" which worked well.

We met a solar physicist named Katie who was working on her PhD in England (apparently her mother lives in Florida), who brought a special solar telescope.  It steered automatically to point at the sun (actually Regulus and then tweaked), which amused Edwin.

We tried various pinhole camera ideas, though the use of a colander seemed to work the best.

We tried poking holes in aluminum foil, but this didn't seem to let enough light through.

Edwin was amused by "solar viewers", which were the usual glasses but made into a card to make it easier to handle for small children.

Edwin made a "solar eclipse camera" by taping an eclipse glasses lens over the lens of a disposable film camera.  We'll see how this worked when the film develops.

Totality:

We were not sure if the weather would hold off for totality.  The sky was initially fairly clear, but as the day wore on, the clouds became more and more substantial.  Eventually, a thunderstorm rolled in nearby to the north, threatening to spoil the fun altogether.

As the minutes before totality diminished, the thunder grew louder and we saw increasingly close flashes of lightning.  But it did indeed hold off, and we didn't get rain until the night.

Moments before totality, Theodore suddenly had to pee.  Bad.  Reeeally bad!  Although we were on a field, in a very nicely kept garden, it seemed the better part of valor to simply find him a tree nearby... everyone was looking up anyway!  (It was good that we did this!)

But then Edwin decided he had to pee, also.  We told him that first, he was too old to pee on a tree in full view of everyone, and second if he really had to go, he would miss the eclipse.  But if he wanted to, he could take his radio, a flashlight and go.  He opted to stay, and promptly forgot that he "had to" go anywhere at all!

In the moment just before totality, the kids noticed that sun looked like a bright star through the eclipse glasses.

Once totality started, the light fell like it was on a dimmer, but it was not quite as dark as we expected.  We think this was because the sky was actually nearly completely overcast.  The sun (even as the eclipsed ring) was still visible through the clouds, though.
  

Animals did indeed act strangely...

• Almost immediately, a bat or two came zipping though the air, seeming unusually hurried. It was followed by a few swallows.  These quickly disappeared once totality ended.
• The crickets started chirping, and continued about 10 minutes after totality ended.

We did indeed see a 360 degree sunset/sunrise, though it was subtle, probably due to the clouds.

Several helicopters and small planes flew past before and after totality, though we didn't hear any during totality. 


After totality ended, literally moments after, the clouds finally thickened and the sun was hidden from view.  We caught a few furtive glances of a partially eclipsed sun after that, but they were quickly hidden again.

The return home:

The return home was fairly uneventful, and took about 13 hours.  We left around 10am on August 22 (the day after the eclipse).  There was traffic that was basically putting I-95 at capacity.  It slowed through work zones, but this diminished as the day wore on.

Zachary claimed to have seen his first palm trees on this trip, even though he surely saw them before at Longwood Gardens.  But this was an interesting point; plans that grow under glass in Philadelphia grow unassisted (even wild) in Charleston.  The oaks also have quite differently-shaped leaves.  Spanish moss grows wild on whatever tree it can find...