OT: How was your experience with the Total Eclipse?
I drove to Toledo to see it and it took me over 2 hours to drive between Ann Arbor and Toledo. It was hands down the worst traffic I have ever experienced. It was 20 times as bad as a Michigan Football Saturday. There were some clouds but I was still able to view totality. Seeing the total eclipse is a totally different experience than a partial eclipse so I don't regret it at all. That was definitely the coolest and weirdest thing that I've ever seen. What are your stories?
Was aiming for Wapakoneta but only made it to Dublin. Still was the most amazing thing to experience totality. Had video on phone running for 20 minutes up to totality and it was nice a lens artifact showed the sliver closing. Must say thank you to all the schools who closed as there was a nice parking lot and lots of open green space for a handful of people to experience it. Will save my glasses with my Skylab tracker kit.
Great experience. Drove from A2 area to Indiana to get in path of totality. Two benefits: not Ohio and missed the horrific traffic.
Went to Cedar Point for their "Total Eclipse of the Point" event. They did an incredible job. I don't know how many they let enter, but it felt like little more than 1,000. Admission included protective glasses and a very nicely designed lanyard. They had numerous themed activities, including adding cards to a "time capsule" to be opened at the next "Total Eclipse of the Point" in 2099, if I'm remembering the year correctly. Only a handful of rides were open, all near the park entrance. But they did the best they could with a skeleton crew. And the crew was exceptionally friendly. I was very impressed.
Totality lasted >3 minutes. Skies were perfect, and you could see the skies all around over the water. It was incredible. Best moment in Ohio without an M win.
I also went down to Toledo with a few friends to view the total eclipse. We took the side roads and was in no hurry. I was hearing radio traffic reports on how backed up US 23 south became as soon as 10 AM. We left A2 before 12:30 PM and arrived in the heart of Toledo after 2:30.
It was awesome to view totality. I did notice the sky looking north was not as dark while l looking south, it was darker. That was due to the fact the sky to the north was out of the totality zone. The sky to the south was deeper in the zone.
We did take US23 north after the eclipse ended and headed back about 10 min after totality. A 50 min trip took about 100 min because traffic was stop and go almost up to A2. Yep, traffic was easily 5X or more larger than any OH State game in A2.
Traffic remained stop and go northbound US 23 until almost 6PM from the ON border according to radio traffic reports. We talked to a few folks that came down from the Saginaw area. Needless to say, several hundred thousand vehicles with many passengers came down from MI into OH to view the total eclipse.
I drove from Ann Arbor to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge east of Toledo. It was pretty spectacular for those three minutes of totality. Didn't witness any unusual animal activity, except for a rooster crowing mid-afternoon. The drive back was slow but we knew it would be. Here's my photo during the totality.
Very good picture, better than any of the 4 pics I took. And it clearly shows the same solar flare (at approximately the 6:30 position near the bottom) that I was watching closely thru my binoculars. I knew totality would reveal the sun's corona but that one particular spot really stood out, as did several other smaller ones I observed.
We had fantastic weather here near Dayton, OH. Seeing a second eclipse in my life was nothing short of incredible. My first was the 1994 annular where I grew up in NE Ohio, so this was my first total eclipse. Getting to experience it with my family and having children all old enough to recognize and remember it was spectacular. I'm already thinking about how to plan to see the 2045 eclipse. Hopefully I live into my 60s so I can see another.
I live near Louisville so we had to drive a bit north; my area was only 99.5% or something. We drove some back roads up to around North Vernon, IN and never had any trouble with traffic. It was some random church in backwoods Indiana where no one else was. We were home around 4:20. The moment the total eclipse was over we GTFO.
I read that the difference between 99% and 100% is the difference between ordinary and extraordinary and that's right.
It's amazing to me that even at 99% the sun is too bright to look at directly. The eclipse itself was spectacular. It rained overnight, cleared out during the day, and then rained again last night. We got lucky.
Stopped wrestling practice and we all went out to take a gander, after 5 minutes one of my guys said, "yep, that's a sliver of light" and then we all went back to practice. Cool for them to see though, we talked about how rare they were and a few kids thought it was really cool. Baseball and track just kept on practicing, wrestlers are dorks and I love it. Maybe that's why we are the only team in our school to be academic all state every year.
True academically-minded kids would have asked to be excused from yesterday's practice so they could conduct various scientific experiments before, during, and after the eclipse. 🤯
Seriously, though: that is really cool that your wrestlers did take a break to observe and then discuss what they saw.We took a bus down from Flint to BGSU for their viewing party, and I thought traffic going down was bad (left at 10am, arrived at 2:15pm).
Had enough time to get settled, and begin viewing through our glasses, and a number of high powered telescopes they had set up.
The weather was gorgeous, 75 and sunny, some whispy clouds that people were getting nervous about.
The whole time I was thinking "this is neat", but secretly I was dreading being there for an hour, and then immediately repeating the drive...but then things started to grow darker, and the temp dropped by at least 10-15 degrees.
I had some Hans Zimmer queued up to enhance the experience.
When totality hit, and I removed my glasses, I was simply awe-struck. Words can simply not describe it, it truly felt like I was on another planet, staring into a black-hole sun. Seeing solar-flares around the corona with your naked-eye was amazing. Thinking back, I can understand now why ancient civilizations may have thought the world was ending, quickly needing to sacrifice a handful of virgins to save that year's crops.
We loaded back on the bus at 4:30pm, and didn't get back to Flint until 10:30pm....bumper-to-bumper from Ohio to Detroit, the entire way.
If I had the opportunity to see it again today, I would go in a heartbeat!
It was a little shady in my opinion.
Does not surprise me, it's what you expect going to OH to see an eclipse.
I pulled both of my kids from school but the boy got sick before we left so it was just me and the girl. We spent an extra hour in traffic around Monroe on the way down, but picked a perfect spot.
My goal was to get to the US-23/OH-224 junction south of Fostoria. But I was on the lookout for a nature preserve to stop at, and we saw one at Bradner, about 20 minutes north of the goal, and I made an executive decision to pull over. It cost us maybe 45 seconds of totality, which is a lot considering how much driving and traffic we went through for a few minutes of corona, but was the only way we were getting home for dinner considering most Michiganders stopped in Toledo or Sylvania.
Shout-out to the ranger at the Bradner nature center, who had bug spray (for the ticks) and was handing out extra glasses to those who needed them (nobody did).
On the way back I skipped I-75 for Dixie Hwy and some back roads I last drove through when I had a learner's permit and my dad took me to see him give his powerpoint to a couple of farm fairs. My daughter got to see a little of America that she doesn't normally get exposed to, and we got home around 6pm, only really getting bottled up when a river meant we had to do some easting to get back to I-75.
Honestly? It chocked my guff.
i didn't notice shit
It was cloudy too. I was planning to get the mail and take a glimpse but didn't see shit, and wasn't in the path of totality
We live on the edge of totality (the projected line passed through our next-door neighbor's house), and decided to make an afternoon of it and go further into the zone.
Figuring there was less chance of clouds going further west, and it was better to stay on country roads, we found a nature preserve about 30 minutes away (Rittman, Ohio) where the local chamber of commerce was hosting an event. It was supposed to have a food truck and music, but that was canceled (probably for the best). A local artist carved some Christmas ornaments commemorating the day - really nicely done.
About 100 people showed up. Most of us went to the top of a hill - not to be closer to the sun, but to see the preserve and the surrounding town on all sides. It was a partly cloudy day, but the type of clouds that didn't interfere with viewing.
Up until about ten minutes before totality, even when seeing the sun down to a crescent through the glasses, we wouldn't have known it was going on without the glasses. Then it gradually got darker, like a storm was approaching.
It never got that dark, even during totality. But seeing the sun disappear with the glasses, then taking them off just as the "diamond ring" popped - that was memorable. I'm sure CGI could do all sorts of things on film, but seeing that naturally and knowing what was happening and how rare it is - I'm glad we went, glad we made a big deal of it.
At totality, looking around at the preserve and the town, orange sunset at the horizon in all directions. That was new, too. We had 2:49 of totality, then the ring reappeared on the other side, glasses back on.
Having stayed in Michigan for the 2017 eclipse, it just doesn't compare. It's somewhat cool to know that the sun is being eclipsed, but that's about it. I remember it being really cloudy that day, and not even being motivated to spend more than a minute or two outside.
I know there was a huge gathering in downtown Canton, yesterday, at 99.9%. That makes no sense to me. Maybe that's an Ohio thing. We've lived in Ohio almost five years now, and a lot of things still make no sense.
I drove to west of Little Rock, AR. It was great but did not get as dark as the 2017 eclipse. I had to endure a 3 hour traffic jam westbound on I-40 in western AR.
Partial in Moraga California (home of the Gaels). Max probably 15% occlusion. Still worth seeing.
I can't wait! The 9/14/99 eclipse totality path will cross southwest Michigan.
I seem to have somehow gained superpowers.
It was perfectly clear here in Dayton. Had glasses and welding googles. The welding goggles gave the crisp/clearest picture before totality. It was very sunny so we felt it go to a chilly breeze from the warmer sun soaked atmosphere. When it got dark, it became mystifyingly magical. The sun was cast to the southern horizon which looked completely alien. Some new stars (to us) were also revealed which won’t be seen again without the conditions the eclipse presented. There is literally nothing else like a total eclipse.
Drove 35 miles from Fort Wayne to Berne Indiana and had 3 minutes 17 seconds of totality. Had my Celestron Binoculars with me. I shrieked out loud when I saw the prominences, like a beautiful magenta ring of fire moving, living, breathing, with my own eyes. I dreamed about it all last night. Beautiful event that I will never forget. Simply stunning. Food trucks, music, like-minded people, great weather and clear skies. Took about 50 minutes to get home. Smiled all the way.
Based on weather forecasts, decided to switch plans at the last minute to go from Maryland to New York instead of Arkansas or Dayton. I got up really early to drive from the hotel in Albany up to Point au Roche State Park (near Plattsburgh) in upper NY. This would have been a lovely way to relax and spend the morning waiting, but I got concerned about the weather forecasts showing increasing chances of clouds and decided to drive another 2.25 hours to Newport, Vermont which had a better forecast. Luckily this was backroads and did not get crowded until I arrived in the city hosting the event. There was a really nice beach on a lake at the public event site. It was fun to meet various people who had traveled there.
In 2017 I observed the total eclipse completely blocked by clouds at my site, so I had at least some idea of what to expect for it getting dark. The moment taking my glasses off after totality was a much more dramatic event than I could had ever expected, and was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It was a long drive back and after midnight before I got to the hotel, and I probably could have just stayed at my original site, but I didn’t want to take any chances on missing out. I hope I get a chance to see another one some day.
April 10th, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^
Oberlin wasn't far from the center line of the totality path. At one point a plan was floated for a department reunion (Physics/Astronomy) but the logistics would have been impossible. Where would people stay?
I went anyway of course. There was a concert beforehand (a piece called "L'Etoile Noir"), the electronic music and dance departments put on a show on the square, there was a "viewing event" out on the football field where the Astro 101 professor had set up telescopes and they handed out glasses and pinhole cameras.
Weather was great, some cirrus clouds but they didn't get in the way, if anything they added to the texture of the view. No real traffic, of course I-71 was along the path and it was probably a lot worse on the roads perpendicular like the turnpike.
Still can't believe we were able to see a prominence, but the one in the pictures at about 6:30 was visible to even my nearsighted eyes.
I came up from Knoxville and watched in Tallmadge, OH near Akron with my Dad and his elderly neighbors. It was slightly hazy so my photos I took with my digital camera and homemade solar lens were a bit grainy. But...the raw eyesight view was A-MAIZING and I later learned that the red dot I saw coming out from the Corona was Prominence plasma, NOT solar flares.