Agate Fossil Beds (mountains in the distance)

Today was the solar eclipse. This is the first time we have been close enough to just drive somewhere and see it. This was important to us. Towns were posting signs stating how much they were charging for parking today. Cheap hotels were charging anywhere from $500 to $1000 for a room. Those who needed last minute eclipse glasses could get them — for astonishing prices. We decided to drive to Agate Fossil Bed National Monument. That’s about 150 miles and 2 hours, 30 minutes away. Being a national monument, we knew they wouldn’t be charging any fees for parking or visiting.

Tripod busted? Fix it with duct tape!

Originally, we didn’t plan to see the eclipse. We figured other people would want the day off and Jewel Cave would ask us to work that day. But Monday is our normal day off and nobody asked us to come in. Our original plan was to leave about 5:30. But visitors, co-workers, and the staff at Agate Fossil Bed all thought that parking would be filled by 7. Everybody said that pulling over on the side of the road would be impossible for various reasons. (We saw several people who did the impossible.) We decided to revise our plans and leave at 3:30 (AM). When somebody we know suggested that might not be early enough, we decided that 3:30 is plenty early enough. Whatever happens happens. It’s an adventure, and we’ll have an interesting story to tell even if we don’t see the eclipse.

Astronomy Club

So off we go, casually equipped with some water, some food for breakfast, eclipse glasses, and a pocket camera. The drive down was very easy. We encountered very little traffic, arrived just after 6, and got into the line of early-arrivers trying to get be the first in the parking lot.

Solar Viewer

We met one couple who arrived about midnight, with plans to sleep in the car. They encountered a park service police vehicle with flashing lights, and thought they would not be admitted. But it turned out that the park had set aside an area for early arrivals to park and sleep.

We had 4 1/2 hours until the eclipse. We brought breakfast with us, but in spite of the park having two food vendors on site, we couldn’t find a cup of coffee. We wanted to walk their 2-mile interpretive trail, but it was closed today. So we settled for watching their movie, taking a few walks around the grounds, and reading our books.

The park had spaces for 1500 cars, and it looked to me like they pretty much filled up, but not until just before the eclipse started. It’s a lot of fun going to a mass event like this. Everybody comes for the same purpose. Everybody is in a good mood. A comfortable and energetic vibe permeates the event as strangers meet and have casual conversations. It was fun walking around and taking snapshots of what I saw.

All kinds of people were there. Some came with nothing more than a frisbee to toss around. Others had elaborate telescopes and cameras, complete with special filters and automatic tracking mounts. There were astronomy buffs and families looking for one last activity before school starts. Everybody got the message that they shouldn’t look directly at the sun. The park had free eclipse glasses for those who were totally unprepared. They had a projection viewer for those who wanted a better view. They had a Native American offer his interpretation of the event.

The eclipse itself started out as a fun but somewhat routine affair. Excitement built as we approached totality. Near totality, we saw two planes overhead, chasing the eclipse. I was surprised by how excited Danita and I got when totality was achieved (as well as everybody else there). There is no other experience like it. A partial eclipse does not prepare one for a total eclipse. The birds did not go nuts. It did not look like night-time. There was much more light than I thought there would be, and the color and quality of the light was something I have never experienced before. The corona I saw was much larger than what I have seen in pictures. But mostly, it was just great fun. There were spontaneous shouts of awe when the eclipse went total. And more spontaneous shouts when the sun started coming back 2 minutes later. All-in-all, it was a most worthwhile, fun, exciting, and satisfying experience. But it is not worth a $1000 room.

PS – the only thing I didn’t see was a pinhole projector. There are many ways to do one. The most unusual idea I heard was to use a Ritz cracker for the pinhole — one gets 4 images of the sun on the screen. Too bad nobody tried it. It would be a news-worthy achievement to make one that works.