I have been meaning to write this post for about a week. Hopefully I can remember the events that took place well enough, despite my procrastination.
The solar eclipse that took place on August 21, 2017 across North America was something that we had on our calendars for months. As the time drew near, we knew it was something that we needed to make a priority. In our area of Georgia, the eclipse was supposed to reach 97.7% of totality. So we decided to pull the older two kids out of school for the day and make it a family field trip, a day we would not forget. We were lucky enough that our family from Charlotte, NC, our sister-in-law Charlotte and cousins felt the same way and traveled to stay with us and join us in our travels to reach a site of totality. We decided on a location that wouldn’t be too busy based on population and ease of travel and one that would also be on the way back to Charlotte, NC from Acworth. That ended up being Toccoa, GA. There was some traffic on the way there, which we had anticipated, but we ended up at a prime location at Henderson Falls Park. We unloaded and sought for shade to eat our lunch and kill time for an hour before the solar eclipse began.
Will and Michael chillin’.
Joshua staying hydrated. We had perfect weather for a solar eclipse with hardly a cloud in the sky, but that also made the temperature a little warmer while we waited.
Jenny waiting for something to happen.
Taivan and I enjoying our meat and cheese sandwiches.Yummy.
Lunching it in the amphitheater where there was some shade and dry places to sit.
Cousins enjoying each others’ company.
It’s starting to get hot.
“This looks fun! Follow me! Beats sitting still.”
A little later we discovered the falls of Henderson Falls Park. Here Tommy is climbing around the rocks surrounding the pool by the falls.
There was sand, so of course, a sand castle!
Beautiful little waterfall
You can see the eclipse shadows around me as we progressed toward totality. And you can also see how I have progressed at 36 weeks.
Crescent-shaped shadows showing through the trees onto the sidewalk.
A picture Tom captured as he put the eclipse glasses over his phone lens.
The look on this little Taivan’s face shows the amazement of what was totality.
We had read and studied about what we would see and what it would be like when watching the eclipse when it reached totality, but I was not prepared for the utter amazement I would feel, or the lack of vocabulary I now have at trying to explain it to someone who did not experience it. I am so very glad we took the day and made it a priority. I hope my kids remember it for a very long time. This video that Tom took does not do it justice, but it helps me remember the awe I felt at the time. It was extremely exhilarating to experience this with a bunch of other people in the park and feel that I was not alone in my wonder and amazement. So the sounds of that are fun to listen to and remember as well. It was something I will remember for the rest of my life. I hope my kids remember it, too. Awesome. Amazing. Phenomenal. Extraordinary. Sensational. Fantastic. Marvelous. Remarkable. Unparalleled.Wondrous. Astounding. Awe Inspiring. Breathtaking.
Here are a couple of the amazing pictures our nephew Joshua took of the event. Totality and then the diamond ring effect coming out of totality. These are so great and it was generous of him to share them with us.
We parted ways with Char and her kids after totality ended. Sharing that experience with them made it so much more fun and even more memorable. The traffic was much worse on the way home, but I would do it again if in meant I got to experience totality again.
A few tired kids on the way home after staying up late with cousins the night before and still waking up for seminary before we left.
Happy Taivan. He was pretty happy until the last 30 minutes or so of the drive home when everyone was hungry. This was something I’m so glad we did. We made a lot of good memories and I will remember it for many years to come.
