We were no where near totality in my neck of the woods, but we still got to see the partial eclipse on Monday, and it was pretty cool. I’m pondering trying to make it to southern New Zealand for totality in July 2028! New Zealand is already on my List of 100 Dreams, so this would be something to aim for…
I had been resigned to missing the eclipse experience if need be, though. One of my children needed to get a small cyst removed from said child’s face. Right above the eyebrow! I’d scheduled the procedure for mid-March, but they wanted us back exactly a week later for stitch removal, and everyone was going to be traveling for spring break. So I took the next option, which was this past Monday… right at 3 p.m.
While I was picking this child up at school, I noted the volume of other parents getting their kids to go watch the eclipse. I felt like waving a sign saying “No, really, we actually do have a doctor’s appointment!”
We checked in at 2:45, just as the action was really starting outside. Fortunately, they got us in quick. After numbing the area, it was a quick procedure, as the cyst all came out in one piece (I thought it was rather cool looking, as did my kid, but there won’t be pictures posted of that…). We were able to get out to the car at 3:20, as the sky was eerily like twilight. People’s headlights were on!
We got home and it was cloudy. But my husband and another one of the kids were there with eclipse glasses, and occasionally the sun poked out from the clouds, so we got to see the eclipse then. Phew. My parents went up to Lake Placid, NY and saw totality, so I guess they got more of the experience! How about you?
I was underwhelmed! We were supposed to be close to totality (95%?) and everything did look darker and drained of colour…but I was hoping for a bit more. The kids seemed impressed, though, so I guess that’s what really matters! Our schools handed out glasses to every student, so we shared two sets as a family and it was cool that everyone got a chance to see it.
We had to pick a child up at an activity close to the height of the eclipse and it was fun to see big groups of college students on the main campus lawn out watching the eclipse together. That was probably my favourite part – the feeling of a collective interest in one event (that didn’t involve a screen!).
Combining a total eclipse with a trip to New Zealand sounds fantastic!
@Elisabeth – it was quite the collective experience! That’s always fun – and I hear internet traffic dropped significantly during the event.
We used to vacation in Western NC every August. My in-laws lived there. So we got to see the 2017 eclipse in totality. It was cool, but having done it once I was comfortable sitting this one out. It turns out to have been a wise choice. I ended up with a lovely solo weekend at home (pretty sure that hasn’t happened since 2012) AND more importantly I did not have to make the epic journey home on Monday night. The trip to northern Vermont took my family about 5 hours. The trip home took them nearly 12 hours!!! They rolled in around 3 am Tuesday morning.
I live in Calgary, Canada right now, and there was a solar eclipse. Just not a total solar eclipse. I did not calculate the time correctly on April 8, 2024, and ended up not observing the solar eclipse.
I still appreciate that you get to observe the solar eclipse, though, Ms. Laura Vanderkam.
@Yukun – next time!
In NYC we only had a partial eclipse, but I thought it was very cool nonetheless. However, my eclipse-viewing companion, age 3, did not appreciate it. She had a hard time figuring out how and where to look, she was afraid of how dark everything was with her glasses, and when I finally got her pointed in the right direction she informed me that it was just a yellow moon, which she has seen lots of times. Oh, well.
@Erica – three year olds can be the best and the worst!
May meet you in New Zealand in 2028. Even though I live here I believe it is a great country as you can see so much without the long distances like in your country
@Murray – sounds good! It’s definitely on my bucket list…
I live near Dallas and we got to watch totality from our backyard! We worked from home, but took a long lunch. My son came over and we grilled burgers and I had baked cupcakes (round foods for the eclipse). It was an amazing 4 minutes! We heard a cheer go up in the neighborhood just as the last bit of light from the sun disappeared, then everything was silent (even the traffic) during totality. A holy moment.
I had been excited about getting to experience a full eclipse since my daughter and I read Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass. Her description of it made it sound magical, even life changing.
Perhaps I’ll put New Zealand on my 2028 travel calendar too.