Last Monday we drove to Sumter, South Carolina so we could view the eclipse in "totality". (My uncle was laughing that he had never heard that word in all his life and in the span of a few days he'd heard it so many times he was tired of it.) The public park there was having a special event, but the traffic to the park was quite long so we drove on down the road to Lowe's hardware store and parked. Evidently quite a few other people had the same idea. :)
Due to the heat, we headed inside, and would walk back to the garden center every 10-15 minutes to see how much it had changed. About 15 minutes before totality, Bobby came out and joined me. The lights in the parking lot that were on sensor came one, as did the ones in the garden area. A few workers slipped outside (despite the announcement not to abandon their posts) a few minutes before, and it was amazing. A worker who had glasses told those without when it was safe to look. A HUGE cheer went up from the parking lot. We were able to spot two stars, even with the night lights on around us. And the temp dropped at least ten degrees.
As the sun begin to be uncovered once again, we suddenly realized all the birds had gone silent. They began to chirp again. The lights slowly flickered back off, and we headed back inside to finish looking at a few things and check out somewhere between the 2nd crescent shape and bitten cookie shape.
It was a great day, and I'm thankful we were able to go where it was totally darkened. Bobby wants to know where we're going to visit in 7 years when it passes over the US again. :) It's not often he mentions wanting to go somewhere or do something, so I think this might be something we have to do!
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