Thistle, thank you. I'm sorry you had rain.

Sara, I encourage you to go to the next one, and take your children, too!

Staysfit, yes! Everyone has seven years to order their eclipse glasses and camera filters.

So jealous, Janet!!! Rachylou - you did the right thing driving to the East Bay. I was in overcast San Francisco and while I had eclipse glasses and it was interesting, it was nothing like what my DH saw in Rexburg ID. He was in Yellowstone for geyser gazing trip and drove what should have been 2 hours to get to totality. His drive back to Yellowstone took six hours.

He owes me big for staying home to keep everything on track. He says Buenos Aires Dec 14, 2020 is next.

Karen, my husband mentioned South America!! My mother in Marin said it was foggy. She said she experienced the total exclipse in 1930 that went through N California. The zone of totality was less than a half mile wide and lasted only a couple of seconds.

DH just sent me this. I really wish I could have figured out a way to go. Maybe we will have a YFL meet up in the Southern Hemisphere in 3 years.

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I'M SO JEALOUS! But happy you got to experience it. Great pics!

Karen, that's a gorgeous picture. Wow! Of course I'd love to be one of those crazy people that go all over the world to view eclipses, but that's probably not going to happen.

Aziraphale, thank you! It was such an amazing experience, in the true sense of the word, that I would encourage you to plan on going to the one in April 2024. Seriously. Make a vacation out of it. Go.

We will! I've already talked to my hubs about it. It's not that far in the future. It's going through or near Montreal and I have family there, so it'd be perfect -- except in April, there's a good chance it might not be clear skies. It might be better to head to the states, but I think it's going across a band of America that I hadn't planned on visiting. Will have to work that out closer to the time.

The one on Monday went through a lot of open space in the West. So the little towns that were in the zone were bombarded with people. In 2024, though, the zone goes through all of the major cities in Texas, except Houston. Weather in April in Texas can be crap shoot, too. We have family in Texas, but even if you don't, the state has so many interesting things to see, that I think it's a worthwhile visit.

Glad you had such a great experience, Janet! What luck to see be near someone who let you view through his telescope!

We went to St. Joseph, MO, nine hours away, which was the shortest drive to totality for us. Spent the night before in Overland Park KS. We pre-arranged parking at the airport which sold tickets for 5,000 cars. Our porta-potty situation was much better than Emily K decribes - thank goodness! Astronomers from Astronomy Magazine were there to provide play-by-play via live-tweet.

Unfortunately we had lots of clouds and some rain. We got maybe a 3-second clear view of totality, when the clouds parted a bit. It was rather amazing to hear the collective gasps and then whoops from I guess about 15,000 people in that moment. The clouds cleared about 20 minutes after totality so we got excellent views of the moon revealing the sun again. The clouds did not impede our experience of sudden darkness or the sunset effect. It was pretty amazing!

I saw the 1970 eclipse under similar conditions. Cloudy skies, but still decent opportunities to see the show.

Traffic coming home was dreadful. At one point Monday night we only travelled 25 miles in 2 hours on I-35. I'm so glad we found someone to keep our dog. That traffic jam would have been a nightmare for her.

Who knows if we will still be living here when we're in the zone of totality for 2024, but we'll definitely try to see that one as well. I would love to see a full eclipse from beginning to end in this lifetime.

Ryce, I'm glad you ended up having a good experience. I would have been on pins and needles over the clouds!

My husband is a Texan and we go down a couple times a year to see his mother. In 2024 she'll be 99, so I don't know if she'll be around to see it, but my husband is definitely planning a trip for that one *no matter what*!!!