I saw the 2017 solar eclipse on August 21 with my family, at a prime spot in the middle of the mountain ridges in Georgia. The whole world was totally ours. Oh, and maybe we were sharing it with some bears.
For viewing the 2017 total solar eclipse across the United States, we rented a cabin in Mineral Bluff, Georgia near Blue Ridge, Georgia. We arrived a couple days before the eclipse day and got ourselves oriented and prepared. The town Blue Ridge is a charming little place. We walked around the downtown area and saw a nicely preserved train for the historic scenic railway.
After getting some supplies in town, we stayed in the hide-away cabin for the rest of our trip. The cabin was very private. We didn’t see anyone during the entire stay. The view from the cabin was stunning.
We spent some time hiking and I really enjoyed it. I found some animal foot prints on the trail. I guess these were from raccoons. We also discovered the Barnes Family Cemetery on the trails, where the grave stone for the great grand daughter of Daniel Boone is. I later learned that Daniel Boone was a famous American explorer and frontiersman.
We watched the beautiful sunset from the deck and roasted our marshmallows under the beautiful starry sky.
The day before the solar eclipse, we looked for the best spot to view the sun and also practiced viewing the sun with the sun shades. It is very imporatnt to always use a certified sun shade when viewing the sun directly. Otherwise, it will permantely damage your eyes. We also made a pin hole camera out of a cereal box.
Finally, the big moment arrived! We watched the solar eclipse in the most comfortable position, laying down!
The totality, which is when the moon completly covers the sun, was beyond impressive. I have never seen anything like it. The sky was still quite bright even when the sun was pretty much covered. At the moment when the totality happened, the sky suddenly darkened, the temperature dropped, and the world was silent. It was a strange feeling. It was even more strange when I saw the horizon was still in bright sunlight, while the sky above me was dark. It was like being under a super small and dark rain cloud. But when you looked up, you could see the corona of the sun, which looked like a circular candle flame flickering around the edges. The totality only lasted for a couple minutes. After that, the sky brighten very quickly.
We tried to take some pictures of the totality, but these pictures didn’t come out like anything near what I actually saw. Also, we didn’t prepare to take pictures, so the camera settings probably was not the best for the solar eclipse. We will study how to take good pictures, so that we will be ready for our next totality viewing in Chile in 2019!
Here are a few tips that I would like to share with you on planning for a relaxing, educational, and fun total solar eclipse viewing trip for your family:
1. Plan early and get a place to stay within the totality zone: Getting a place within the totality zone is the key here. And don’t think you will find a good place, or any place at all, to stay when time is close. Remember, it is no fun at all to drive for hours in to and hours out of the totality zone, especially with kids.
2. Plan the trip for more than just eclipse viewing: I enjoyed every part of our trip, the town, the stunning view, the hiking, the star gazing, the fire pit, the marshmallows, the ping pong tournament, the movies, and even the bugs.
3. Get settled a couple days before the big day: We didn’t run into any traffic AT ALL. We arrived at our destination a couple days before the eclipse day. We got all the supplies we needed before the crowds poured in. And we sat back and enjoyed the entire time.
4. Determine to enjoy family time with or without seeing total eclipse: Accept the chance that the sun won’t show up during total eclipse. There is no way to control the weather. So don’t let it become a spoiler! Family time is always fun time! Make it your adventure.
5. Be relaxed and enjoy a couple more days of getaway after the event: We didn’t run into any traffic AT ALL again on our way back home. What we brought back with us was a totally great memory!
Mineral Bluff, GA
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