Eclipse-mania

If I had realized what a big deal it would have been, perhaps I should have shifted the entire trip over by 3 or so days.  That way, we would have been in Greensboro on Monday and seen the eclipse at 95% or so.  It actually got quite dark in Greensboro, though apparently not the total darkness that Asheville got.

At any rate, I did have the eclipse glasses with me at work, and I went down at 1:45 and checked it out.  Then again from 2:05-2:08.  A few people from work came down and we all took a quick peek to see a small chunk taken out of the sun.  Unfortunately, we had a meeting scheduled from 2-4, so I had to miss the best part of the eclipse.  Had it been a total eclipse or even 90% or so, I think I would have bailed on the meeting, but it wasn't so impressive that it was worth losing one's job...

My kids were able to see the eclipse fairly well and thought it was neat.  My wife captured the phenomenon of the crescent shadows through the tree leafs.  That was particularly cool, and I didn't see anything like that at Union Station.

The exciting news is that Buffalo is supposed to get a total eclipse in 2024, and it will be 90-95% in Toronto.  (And the eclipse glasses made to the new standards are supposed to last that long; the older glasses only stayed safe for 3 years.)  I suspect getting to Buffalo will be total madness on the day of and maybe even the day before (with huge lines at the border).  However, it may be the case that staying on this side of the border, say at Fort Erie, we could see the total eclipse, though I can imagine that you'd still need to get down the night before to find a place to park (and the hotels will certainly be jacking up the price).  Closer to the time, I'll decide how much effort I want to put into chasing the eclipse.  I may well decide that what we see in Toronto is going to be impressive enough.