I made sure months in advance that I keep the date clear – August 21^st 2017 – the day of the long awaited “great American” solar eclipse.

What I didn’t do was plan.

Because I’d been such a silly procrastinator I hadn’t gotten any of the special solar eclipse glasses and called around stores in a frantic last minute search.

Of course they were all sold out.  And the few that had in last minute shipments (in numbers upwards of the 1000s) were gone within hours.  Crazy!

Luckily, a friend of my boyfriend’s came to the rescue.

Her dad, a “Sporty Spice” (as my BF called him – meaning he’s a outdoorsy/nature sorta guy), had bought up 10 pairs, none of which he needed because he’d taken his pair with him out west where he had journeyed to catch the eclipse in a special place for himself.

Glorious! How thankful I was for those glasses… as well as skeptical.

Not that I didn’t trust the gal or her dad.  But the internet is full of horrifying stories– and the ones that had occupied me in the last-minute eclipse info searches where about how there were fake pairs circulating out in the world… glasses that not only didn’t protect your eyes from the sun but that would literally “cook your retina.” Sounded disturbing!

The thought of hurting my eyes was a BIG fear of mine.  Already I was pretty damn flabbergasted that one could EVER even look DIRECTLY at the sun in the first place… who knew these magical glasses existed?!

So I read up on NASA’s website and studied the glasses intently, doing all the various tests to make sure they were actually legit.  (and I’m happy to report, that after putting them to use, my eyeballs feel fine : )  haha)

The night before the big event I spent hours scouring the internet trying to decide where to go to take in the celestial phenomena.

Why why why did I wait till the last minute? Ahhhh, the good ol devil of procrastination (the evils of which will surely be explored in a future blog! So stay tuned!)

The idea I had was to go on a hike—be somewhere in nature to experience the long anticipated event.

I settled on a hike (Huckleberry Knob was the name) 2 ½ hours from my current base in Asheville, NC, that offered a mountaintop 360 degree panoramic view that was directly in the line of totality – that was to experience more than two and half minutes of darkness—which is when the moon completely covers over the sun and the everything turns dark.

It all seemed so blurry in my mind… unreal, hard to visualize.

You mean I can really look at the sun?????? like, really??

I read that the temperature would drop at least 10 degrees, that it would get dark and the stars would be visible in the sky….  No wayyyyy I thought.

And possibly the part that seemed craziest of all to me—that you could (and I read SHOULD) REMOVE your solar glasses during the moments of totality and stare at the sun with the NAKED EYE.

No way!! How?!! That can’t be true!

I wondered how I would be able to tell when the moment had come and when it was OK to take off the glasses… and then, how in the world would I know when I needed to put the glasses back on??? What if I screwed it up? What if I seared my eyes? How in the heck would I know the precise moments of when I could and when I couldn’t stare full force into the almighty sun?!

No article, picture, story, etc. could have prepared me for just how shockingly amazing this event was to witness.

When you watch the video, surely you’ll hear the emotion in my voice when the moon slipped fully over the sun and the world went dark.  Even thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes.

The morning went like this:

Went to bed at 1:30am

Woke up at 4:30am

Hit the road by 6am

Got to the trailhead (or rather, down a mile or so from the trailhead, as it was already backed up with cars) at 8:30am

Got to the summit of the hike (where we were to watch the eclipse) at 9:15ish am

Many people had camped there the night before and the mountain tops were like little villages full of people who had all come together with one common desire… to experience totality.

From there, we found a place where we felt comfortable to plop down and set up camp (camp as in for the day.)  We brought comfy camping chairs and some beach blankets to throw down to relax on the ground.

I made sure to bring plenty of food and lots of water as I heard the roads might be get gridlocked, since there were so many thousands of people that were traveling to witness the event.

Totality was not going to happen until after 2:30pm, but surprisingly the day passed quickly.

I went on some walkabouts and simply relaxed in the thick grasses all around us, enjoying the beauty of the mountainside (not to mention the people watching was great too! Haha : )

When we arrived the sky was beautiful and crystal clear, but soon deep dark big reaching clouds had covered a big portion of the sky (mainly, right over and around the sun).

Everyone was worried.

But as soon as the moon made first contact with the sun (i.e. slipped in front of it) the clouds had just barely parted…

Everyone cheered, and I put on my solar shades and watched, fascinated.

As the sun slowly got more and more covered up by the moon, the clouds waxed and waned.  Every time there was a break in the clouds we knew because the people hooped and hollered and we quickly replaced our shades to catch a passing glimpse.  (I was still too nervous to stare at the sun for extended periods even with the shades.)

It feels like a miracle that the clouds did NOT obscure the moments during totality.  I’ve talked to quite a number of people since then whose view was totally obstructed.  For them I truly felt sorry!

I had my solar shades on just before the sun was completely covered.  It was but a sliver, like a Cheshire cat smile moon.

Suddenly I couldn’t see anything and people were screaming.  I ripped off my glasses instinctually and witnessed the sun with my naked eye in all its glory.

The moon had fully covered it– and it was like someone had switched off a light—that’s how dramatic the light changed.

Leading up to totality the lighting definitely changed, dimmed considerably and looked almost like an early twilight, but the moment that the moon covered it completely was most dramatic.

I gasped in awe and stared, overflowing with emotion.

I spanned the horizon around me and witnessed the sunset, right smack in the middle of the afternoon, the skies that covered the sweeping valleys behind me doused in beautiful pinks and orange.

I didn’t film the whole period of totality, but you will see some of what I experienced in the video.

Unfortunately the camera I brought with me didn’t have large enough lenses to take good images of the sun itself (but hey, next eclipse here I come!)

The moments of totality itself (lasting over 2 & ½ minutes) flew by in what felt like 30 seconds.  As the whole day leading up to these very moments had passed so quickly, so too did those precious moments of darkness where that we stared at the sun with our naked eyes and gaped at the soul-wrenching beauty of its grandeur.

And if this all sounds dramatic, it’s because you haven’t experienced totality.

Seriously, as I stated above, nothing could have prepared me for these moments, for how truly AWESOME and even life-changing this event was to witness.  I felt feelings I’ve never felt before.  Nature in all her mystery and perfection literally brought me to tears.

I didn’t see any stars, but John did (he’s got better vision than me!), and it didn’t get quite PITCH BLACK like I thought it would but it was definitely quite dark.  Just light enough that we could see each others faces and the countryside just barely beautifully lit around us.

And as for the moment of having to put my eclipse shades back on??

There was no question there.

As I stared at the covered sun it suddenly got so bright that I pulled away and cringed, squinting my eyes.

Because just as quickly as that last little portion of the moon had covered the sun and turned off the lights, so too did the tiniest portion of the moon begin to slip away and the TEENIEST littlest sliver the sun was exposed and caused me wrench my face away towards the ground, so blindingly bright did it suddenly become again.

There.  Glasses back on.

As a sun-worshipper* this event was such a marvel to behold.

An interesting fact is that solar eclipses are really not that uncommon—it’s just not common for them to be occurring right where you live.  So the day after the event my boyfriend joked that instead of being groupies that follow a band, we could just follow all the solar eclipses around the world! Haha 😉

The next American eclipse will happen in 2024 and DAMN YES I will be there!! And don’t be surprised if you catch me at an eclipse before then : )

Now, without further ado…. Watch the video below to follow me on the day of the eclipse and vicariously experience totality with me!

 

 

an early dusk

TOTALITY!

 

After totality many people left, but we stayed to watch the rest of the eclipse and enjoy our beautiful surroundings.

 

the hike out

 

Because totality was so short and SO surreal and breathtaking it already feels a million miles away in my brain.

I long to feel the memory closer and the vision and feelings it burned in my psyche during those magical moments closer to me.

I long to be back in that moment, that beautiful, indescribable, blissful moment.  I just want to experience it over and over again.

But until the next eclipse I chase, those quick moments of experiencing totality will be remembered as one of the most incredible, if not THE most incredible thing I have ever witnessed in my life.

*No, I don’t ACTUALLY worship the sun, but I DO feel a wonderful energy that emanates from our sun that makes me feel ALIVE and HAPPY.  Sunshine just brings joy to my life.  Perhaps I lived a past life in ancient Egypt where I worshipped Ra 🙂

Special shout out to Micah & Stephanie who are unintentionally featured in this video & whom I happened to have a serendipitous run in with again the next day back home in Asheville! (it’s a small world afterall 🙂

 

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Leave and comment and tell me: Where were you for the solar eclipse? Did you experience totality? I want to hear your story!