The great American Eclipse

For the last few weeks they have been talking about what has been termed as the "Great American Eclipse. It is a solar eclipse that would go from the west coast to the east coast. It was to take place around 11:30 a.m. on Monday, August 21 and travel a 70 mile wide band across Idaho Falls, Rexburg and Jackson for locations near us. I wanted to see this but it was the day before school started so Cindy and Shannon could not leave as it was going to be back to school night on Monday. On Saturday morning the 19th I took this picture right before sunrise of the last crescent stage of the moon  before it became a new moon and Venus which was found right above the moon.

Those of us that could travel to see the eclipse were Connor and Payton, Josh and Maddie and myself. Kent and Tammy in Lava were also planning to go since it was close to them. They allowed us to stay over Sunday night and go with them. There was talk about all the traffic problems that would occur along I-15 but we figured if we went up Sunday night we would avoid that congestion; which we did. Kent had scouted out a place where we should not have a lot of people or traffic problems for that day. We were also joined in our little group by some old friends of Tammy and Kent's when they lived in Ogden. We got up Monday morning to leave from Kent's house around 7:30. We met Chad at the end of the road and drove as a group to Soda Springs and then headed north along the west side of Blackfoot Reservoir on a dirt road called the Bone Road. Our destination was just north of Bone, Idaho with its one store and a couple of ranch houses. After trying to keep from eating each others dust we made it to our destination and set up our chairs ready for the event not knowing what to really expect.

We would check every so often to see if anything was happening. I would take pictures placing the glasses in front of the camera lens so the camera would not get fried which is why the tint to the pictures of the sun.

 After awhile, using our special solar glasses we noticed a little notch on the corner of the sun's surface. We set in our chairs talking then looking up to see how the event was progressing.

While we watched the movement, we started to notice it getting cooler while we set in the chairs in the full sunlight. We commented to each other that it must be a breeze but there was no wind. As the moon continued to cut off more of the sun we started to notice some strange things even though the sun was still so bright you could not look at it except with our special glasses which Connor modeled.  .

The shadows on our hands started to develop bumps between the fingers

We noticed the colors around us such as the greens and blues started to have different hues from what existed prior to the eclipse beginning.  Even though the camera seemed to adjust the colors they were different to our eyes.

The moon continued to block out more and more of the sun and yet it still provided enough light to light up everything around us. We determined the brightness based on the squint factor. How much squinting did Josh and dad do. Less squinting meant the more the moon was blocking the sun.

Then we noticed a few more strange things started to happen. Shadows got longer and the light on the ground became whiter though the sky and colors were duller. Look at the difference between the picture before the eclipse started and right before totality. Notice how much whiter the gravel looks.

Then there was just a small sliver of sun left in the sky.We noticed that there shadows of waves on the road. What were they?

There was a bright pinpoint of light on the sun and then...boom the sun was completely covered and the sky went dark and you could see Venus and a couple other stars in the sky. We took off the glasses and could see the glow of the corona of the sun as a glow in the sky around a black circle. The moon had completely blocked the sun and all that was left was its atmosphere glowing.

All around us was a 360 degree sunset on the horizon and darkness above it. We were seeing where the sun still lighted the sky outside this shadow we were in even though it was dark right above us. It was such an amazing moment and one that passed far too quickly.

A minute later there was the bright point of light and the glasses went back on. The surroundings were all lighted up and even with the small sliver of sun the event was over and now we observed the reverse. It started to get warmer and colors started to go more toward natural.

We had a picnic while we watched the sun come back to its full circle. It was time  to head back on the dirt road. Once we got to Soda and had cell service we saw that the traffic was not bad on I-15 so we made our break for it before the masses who were in Idaho Falls got to the Lava exist. We were able to travel at 80 mph all the way home and got home by 4:30. It was a once in a life time event that words and pictures can really not describe. I am glad that Payton and Connor had this opportunity but wished Cindy and Shannon could have joined us.