Wednesday, August 23, 2017

The Big Eclipse


Yes, we saw it!  We waited a bit long to decide to see the eclipse. By then, the nearest campground we found was two hours away from the path. After hearing (every day for weeks!) the TV news reporters talk about the crowds and heavy traffic, I made John get up fairly early and leave by 9:30 am to get there in time.  Turns out there was little traffic until we reached the town we had selected (Orangeburg, SC). Orangeburg is pretty small, between the larger towns of Charleston, Columbia, and August, and had several city parks for parking and viewing. Plus the park had a bathroom which can be important as you wait. We spent time talking to people from Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Nobody local went to this park. Parking was haphazard as people just parked wherever. There were no vendors selling anything except one lady sold eclipse glasses and that was a very reasonable $2 a pair. It was nice!

Up to the last minute we were worried about the weather. In general South Carolina had lots of clouds and some rain. We were VERY lucky in having only a bit of clouds during the early part of the partial and everything was clear for the full eclipse. As we drove back to the campground, we hit heavy rain. So, as I said, LUCKY!

We had eclipse glasses and I made a pinhole projector. Hey, kids can’t have all the fun!

They say a full eclipse is much more exciting than a partial eclipse, and they are right. It was also nice to have some people around but not crowds. Someone noticed that crickets started chirping as it got darker which I might not have noticed. Plus the cheering, gasps, and comments added to the excitement.

One of the pictures came out with both the sun being too bright and some reflection that showed the crescent below it.

None of our pictures really show how dark it was or how fantastic the view was. We don’t have great pictures, but we have great memories!






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