We made a mini road trip to see the 2024 total eclipse of the Sun. This despite our backyard being smack dab in the path of totality. For a week leading up to the eclipse, we anxiously checked the weather forecasts. They were stubbornly pessimistic, predicting rain for the day of the eclipse. But...the National Weather Service said the odds of seeing the eclipse were better the farther northeast of Dallas you were. So, to improve our chances, we planned to drive 100 miles to Paris, Texas, on the morning of the eclipse, then check the forecast and local conditions and decide what to do from there. And so we did.
Our first photo was taken in our driveway in Richardson before departure. The sun is out. We are squinting. Our hopes are high.
We got to Paris about three hours before totality. We made base at the Eiffel Tower (with the red cowboy hat).
Weather conditions were bad. Instead of total eclipse, we saw total cloud cover. The forecast wasn't any better. So, after a brief look at the Eiffel Tower, we decided to drive back to Bonham, where conditions had been better when we drove through on our way to Paris. We had a picnic lunch on the Fannin County Courthouse Square. The sky was blue. Our hopes were high again.
Then the clouds moved in again. We started hearing promising reports of clouds breaking up back in Richardson. So, having more than an hour before totality, we decided to start driving back to Richardson, planning to stop along the way when conditions looked promising, or when we simply ran out of time. We got as far as McKinney, Texas, where the patches of blue in the sky looked bigger than anything ahead of us. We stopped in a Super Target parking lot and set up base to watch the eclipse.
Watching the partial eclipse, we couldn't tell whether the scudding clouds would cooperate when totality began. Then, a few minutes before totality, a big break in the clouds opened, and remained open for us to view the eclipse through the full cycle of totality: the brief so-called diamond ring just before the sun's last rays are covered, three full minutes of totality, and the brief diamond ring again as the moon begins to uncover the sun. It was spectacular. It was awesome.
Totality brings darkness as sudden as if a light bulb was switched off. The parking lot lights came on. Agitated birds flew around as if confused. It was glorious.
Of course, our photos do not do it justice. Not even close. We had only cell phone cameras to record events. I didn't want to spend time concentrating on a camera's settings and miss the emotional impact of the eclipse. And so I offer only this poor photo of the total eclipse itself.
The above is NOT what you see with the naked eye. To capture that, you need a better camera in the hands of a talented photographer. The best amateur photograph I saw posted by Richardson friends and neighbors on social media is the first one I included above. It was taken by Amir Omar and is used here with his permission.
And, now, the planning begins to do it again. The US won't see another total eclipse until 2044. But the next one elsewhere in the world will be in 2026. Iceland and Spain are the places to go for that one. After that, Egypt will get an eclipse in 2027. And Sydney, Australia, gets one in 2028. Should you try to see one of those? I say yes. If you have the means and circumstances to allow you to travel, go for it. Maybe the best comment about the 2024 eclipse that I read online was by someone who said, "Now I can cross that item off my bucket list, an item that wasn't even on my bucket list until totality began and I learned what everyone was so excited about."
"Mini road trip fun,
Paris, Texas, we pursue,
Eclipse awaits us."
—h/t ChatGPT
1 comment:
A similar experience here, except no road trip. We had eight out-of-state visitors and viewed it from our front yard through the passing clouds. The partial eclipse was cool, the total eclipse amazing.
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