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Solar eclipse on August 21...anyone getting excited?

Carol C

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Viewing one of these rare phenoms has been on my bucket list, and now apparently there will be good visibility in SC where I live now. I've been anticipating this for awhile. I even had another cousins' week at the beach lined up, but alas one fave cousin just lost her hubby, so I'm going to have to give the resort week up.

Now, since I live here, I plan to view it from the best possible vantage point. And so I ask savvy TUGgers who may have seen an eclipse in the past...how do you choose a good vantage point? And do you have to buy and wear special sunglasses to avoid going blind? I already have had serious eye problems...already legally blind in one eye... so I don't need to invite more trouble into my life. I want to do this right, i.e. view it and share the excitement without going blind. Advice anyone? TIA! :cool:
 

Passepartout

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Use Eclipse viewing glasses. Lots available on Amazon for a few bucks and up.
 

PStreet1

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It's absolutely essential that the glasses you get are certified by ISO and CE. They don't cost any more, and apparently the market is being flooded with glasses from Asia that don't meet safety standards.

There's a great book with all you need to know about the eclipse, how to view, where to view, etc. available from
GreatAmericanEclipse.com (We got ours at a national park bookstore and felt like they were likely to have only accurate information--the book also includes
two "cardboard frame" eclipse viewing glasses that do meet the safety standards. We bought glasses with better frames from Amazon, but now, we have the cardboard frame ones as back-ups or to give to friends.)
 

VegasBella

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Yes, I mentioned the eclipse to my husband a while ago and he wasn't interested. Then out of the blue yesterday he was all excited about it so we planned something. We booked flights and hotel but still need to arrange rental car since all the airport ones are booked. It's very late in the game to start making plans now but we managed to figure something out.

The way we chose a spot, we considered:
- minimal travel time for us (for us in Vegas, virtually any plan requires flying then driving) since we have a young son
- where would we enjoy spending a weekend?
- where is likely to have good weather for viewing?

On that last part I googled: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/best-places-to-view/

We decided we will fly to Portland and drive to Madras.
 

Passepartout

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Don't plan on just driving into the area and pulling over on the side of the road to watch. Traffic will be horrendous and cops will be ticketing people who stop on road shoulders.

Here in Idaho, they're expecting a half million people in Idaho Falls. Sun Valley area in the central part of the state 300,000 more in an area with hotel rooms numbering in the dozens, not thousands or even hundreds.

What rooms were available were going for as much as $500 with a 3 night minimum. And those are gone. People are renting rooms in private homes.

Good Luck!
 

geist1223

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In Oregon they are predicting up to 1 million vistors. State Emergency Services has been making plans. There are concerns that Fire, Police, etc may not be able to respond to Emergency Calls due to the crowded roads. In Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast they are talking about restricting secondary roads to Residents.
 

moonstone

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With all these plans people are making I hope the weather co-operates! It would be awful to travel to an area just to watch the eclipse only to have it turnout to be a completely overcast day!

We haven't made any special plans to view the eclipse. In our area we should be able to see it at 70-80% and that's good enough for me.


~Diane
 

PStreet1

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Some areas are selling tickets to large parking lots--St. Joseph, Missouri, is selling reserved spots (I probably should say "was selling" because I'm sure they are long since sold out) for an airport parking lot for viewing. No one will be admitted without a ticket. Our original viewing spot (Jefferson City, Missouri) is very close to maximum total eclipse time, only 1 or 2 seconds from the maximum, and it will occur about noon, so looking straight up should guarantee good viewing, provided of course, that the weather cooperates. Hotel rooms were substantially less expensive in Columbia, Missouri and Jefferson City than they are in the West, no doubt due to less certainty about the weather: when I tried to find spots in the West, they were asking pretty close to $1000 a night for little hole in the wall motel-type lodging, but there were lots of $100 to $150 a night chain hotels in Missouri.

For anyone still looking and interested in a cruise, the Aug. 20th sailing of the Oasis of the Seas has been officially re-routed to sail to a spot for seeing the eclipse.
 

PigsDad

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We are in a 95% zone -- I'm not going to deal with the zoo and drive the 100 miles to be in the total eclipse area. I've seen one before (Winnipeg in the early 80's, late 70's?), and a partial in Paris in the late 90's, so 95% will be good enough for me this time.

Kurt
 

Passepartout

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We are in a 95% zone -- I'm not going to deal with the zoo and drive the 100 miles to be in the total eclipse area. I've seen one before (Winnipeg in the early 80's, late 70's?), and a partial in Paris in the late 90's, so 95% will be good enough for me this time.
We're at 97% here, so I mirror your feelings.
 

VegasBella

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With all these plans people are making I hope the weather co-operates! It would be awful to travel to an area just to watch the eclipse only to have it turnout to be a completely overcast day!

Well, that's why I wanted to choose an area I'd enjoy visiting anyway (hence Portland/Madras rather than Casper, WY) and why I picked one of the 10 spots predicted to have the best weather. I really want to see it. My husband and I have never seen one and we'd like our son to see this one - he's old enough he will remember it.

I will note the warnings about parking. We should plan something about that.

Edit to add: I bought a parking pass for one of the eclipse viewing locations.
And I was finally able to find a rental car, just had to look outside of airport area to get one. And I ordered some glasses. So I think we're good :)
 
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LurkerBee

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My folks are at the edge of the total zone. Their neighbors (our families have been friends for 50 years) are having an eclipse viewing party weekend. Sunday is a pig roast, band, camping, followed by more music on Monday. It'll be like a mini-cochella or something...
 

geist1223

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Weather can be a big issue (clouds and fog) on the Oregon Coast in the AM on any given day. So we are staying in the Salem area of the Willamette Valley. The best location would probably be the top of Mt Jefferson because you would see the shadow race across the Willamette Valley.
 

PStreet1

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Thanks for sharing Annie's essay--I had read an excerpt from it, but not the whole thing until now. My fear is that, having read it, my expectations will be too high: I doubt I'm anywhere near as sensitive as she.
 

isisdave

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Hi Pat

I think a lot will depend on the local weather. In 1979, it had rained all night, it was February at 8:15 so the sun hadn't been up long, and it was in a place that's fairly winter-cold already. It was quite cool before, but it got noticeably cooler quickly. I didn't see the shadow, but I wasn't looking for it.

We'll miss this one as we're in England. The next good one's on my 70th birthday in 2019 in South America, so maybe we'll head for that. Next one in North America isn't until 2024

I hear the sand returned to the beach in Rosarito, so maybe we'll re-visit this winter.
 

dagger1

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Casper, Wyoming should be a great viewing spot, almost always clear, blue skies, 12 months a year.
 

CO skier

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Casper, Wyoming should be a great viewing spot, almost always clear, blue skies, 12 months a year.
Except there will be a few hundred thousand visitors from the Colorado Front Range descending on Casper, WY (pop. 60,000) that day. Just trying to buy a bottle of water will be a challenge.

Most of the few hundred thousand that day will undoubtedly view a partial eclipse from the traffic jam on I-25 leading from Colorado to Casper, WY.
 

dagger1

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Except there will be a few hundred thousand visitors from the Colorado Front Range descending on Casper, WY (pop. 60,000) that day. Just trying to buy a bottle of water will be a challenge.

Most of the few hundred thousand that day will undoubtedly view a partial eclipse from the traffic jam on I-25 leading from Colorado to Casper, WY.
Haha you are probably exactiy right. My wife is from Casper, all of her family lives up there. They are saying what you are, it's going to be a zoo.
 

Passepartout

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Places of fairly small populations in central Idaho are facing a shortage of porta-potties. They're bringing them from hundreds of miles away in anticipation of the crowds. I think the event will be memorable much more for it's effect on people than for the shadow racing across the earth.
 

PigsDad

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Except there will be a few hundred thousand visitors from the Colorado Front Range descending on Casper, WY (pop. 60,000) that day. Just trying to buy a bottle of water will be a challenge.

Most of the few hundred thousand that day will undoubtedly view a partial eclipse from the traffic jam on I-25 leading from Colorado to Casper, WY.
Yep, I'm planning on staying far away from I-25 that day. It is going to be a zoo. I have a cousin that is going to try for western Wyoming or eastern Nebraska on some back road.

Me? I'm going to enjoy the 95% eclipse and maybe have fun watching the traffic indicators on Google Maps. :)

Kurt
 

ace2000

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I hope you guys are over-hyping this deal as far as the crowds. :) We live an hour away from the path and plan on taking the day off and just driving somewhere to check it out. Don't have specific plans yet... but, I'm starting to wonder if I need to make some.
 
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