We talked about The Eclipse at the beginning of the year-I think-- and we all agreed it was an event we wanted to attend. I figured there would be a few science-y families and maybe a few geeks, but really...
Since we are a large-ish family to travel, I planned the route and reserved motels back in May. I first tried Air BnB places but they were looking expensive--nice, but expensive.
So I started checking for suites at motels, they turned out to be our best option.
We really like Homewood Suites, they have a light supper during the week that is included in your room rate. It was just mac n cheese, pulled pork sliders, and a soup...no dessert, but it was more than adequate after driving all day.
The other note to remember before the Eclipse 2024--get your glasses before D-7...they get a little expensive. We managed to snag some child's sized glasses (that sounds dramatic- they are cardboard and plastic) but the child-sized ones were available and I was willing to do surgery on them if necessary. It wasn't, they fit everyone but me and Joe because we needed to keep on our glasses in order to see the sky.
We headed out Sunday morning after Sunday School and stopped in Roanoke for the night. Cooked spaghetti in our room.
We were in the totality zone by 12 noon but didn't know where we wanted to park.
Did we want to pay $20 to sit in a parking lot without shade? This was TN and I'm guessing the temps were high 90's or 100. We were following a bunch of cars toward a campground and I suddenly spied a turn-off with a few parked cars and I didn't see any signs stating a parking fee.
We parked and it was just what we had in mind...some trees, some grass and not many people along Little Tennessee River off Unicoi Turnpike.
We settled in and made some crescent shapes with our hands.
Ate the sandwiches I had packed.
Tried not to melt.
Took some goofy pics while we watched the moon take a bite out of the sun.
You really can't do this on a regular day.
or this...
Hope managed to get a good picture with an older Samsung camera we have.
Twilight came for about 2-1/2 minutes. Long enough to be awestruck and amazed.
Short shadows but evening light.
These are the shadows of the leaves ....no, you really don't see that on a "normal" day
Really wonder what people thought before they realized what caused an eclipse.
Actually I wonder how people can deny a Creator after witnessing an eclipse.
Reminds me of something I read on Facebook:
In one swoop, God caused the nation to come together to watch Him at work!!!
No protests!
No politics!
Just all people looking up watching Him at work!
It was interesting....we sat in a lot of traffic afterward...A LOT! about 4 hours of parking lot and 4 hours of driving.
There was no yelling
No horn-blowing
Just people waiting.
Now I'm not predicting what would have happened in our van if we hadn't had a steady supply of Adventures in Odyssey and other audio books. The phones even needed to be recharged quite frequently. I managed to crochet about three hats while we drove.
We also learned that Google maps can be misleading....we were at a standstill on roads that were marked as "good traffic" and moving on roads marked "red".
A bit of common sense and good-old paper maps are necessary for that type of a trip too.
Made it to our motel in Lexington at midnight.
The next morning after sleeping in a bit, we headed to Ark Encounter. It is worth the drive as well.
Slept in another Homewood Suites and headed for home.
Then so we didn't lose momentum, we sent them off to school the next morning.
Hope is still homeschooling, but the others are in 7th, 2nd, and 11th.
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