Eclipse

The path of totality for the eclipse was very close to us. Our town was at 99.6% I believe. We thought about driving to St. Joseph which is in the path and not too far away and it was going to be a long time frame for the total eclipse. As the day approached, we decided not to go to St. Joseph as it was just going to be too crazy with people there. Our next plan was to go to a state park that was in the path and only a few seconds shorter total eclipse duration. We were one of the last cars allowed in the park. We went for a hike (and got wet when it started to rain) and determined that there really wasn't a lot of open space to see the sky at this park (we had never been there before) due to all the trees. We then decided to drive to Far West, a church history site, which was about 10 miles away. We ate our picnic lunch in the car and waited for the storm to pass. Far West was busy, but not too bad. The clouds cleared enough for us to see the partial eclipse leading up to the total eclipse, and the entire total eclipse. Shortly after the total eclipse was over the clouds came back and it looked like we wouldn't be able to see any more, so we packed up and left.

The kids thought it was really neat and enjoyed the experience. I'm glad they got to see it in person since we had taken them out of school for this. Pete and I enjoyed it as well, but thought it would be a lot darker than it really was. The next eclipse will be in southern Missouri, so I've got 7 years to decide if we want to make a trip to see that one.

Safety first!