2017 Eclipse

I knew about the eclipse quite some time ago. Long enough ago that I didn't remember that I had already booked the day off in my calendar. I wasn't sure however, whether Kerry and the kids would be interested in going. I brought it up with Kerry at the start of summer vacation, half expecting her to say no and that I was crazy. Half of that did happen. The detail that turned things in my favour was that the eclipse covered Woodburn, Oregon which has some very nice outlet malls. The perfect post eclipse destination two weeks before back to school.

My initial crazy plan was to simply drive down during the night. Kerry's friend Melissa had a better idea and convinced Kerry to try to book a hotel. It was at this point we realized what a big deal this thing was. The only hotel in the area went for $1,297. We managed to get a room two and a half hours away. This allowed us to leave the morning after our Donut Dash run at the PNE. The border was already crazy with a two hour wait. We had planned on going to an outlet mall near our hotel but the timing meant we had to stop at the one in Seattle. We managed to make it to our Hotel in Tumwater, Washington by 10:00p.

At this point I was getting pretty worried. Traffic was busy at 10:00p and we still had to make it through Portland in the morning. Our hotel was a Motel 6 with less than stelar cleanliness. We slept on our own blankets on top of the bed sheets. It just seemed safer. We all had a quick nap and were up by 2:30a and out the door by 3:15a. This seemed like the perfect time because it was two hours to get through Portland which would put us through by 5:30a or so. Traffic was noticeable but manageable.

The whole way from Surrey I was checking our Solar Eclipse app. It had a feature that allowed you to check what percentage of the eclipse you were going to see. Our goal was 100% though at this point I was still okay with even getting to 95%. Little did I know what was in store for us. My original plan was to stop at the fairgrounds in Salem, Oregon. It sounded like the parking would be easy and lot's of people however it turns out it was a ticketed event that was booked months ago. I did not inform the family that I had absolutely no destination planned.

Once we got through Portland and into Salem I updated everyone on my lack of plan and we wandered around looking for a good spot. There were people parked in farmers fields and on the side or the road which seemed like a good backup option. In the end we saw a sign to a local garden in Silverton. It also had a ticket only event but the parking lot was a field at a local elementary school near a church. For $10 we were able to park and set up a blanket in a field by a community vegetable garden. There were a few hundred people which made for a more exciting event. We felt the air get cooler around 50% and the light was noticeably dimmer around 85%. It wasn't until 99% that it got fun. We wore our safety solar glasses right up until it was 100% and we were amazed at what we saw. A black disk surrounded by a beautiful coronal halo. If you've seen anything below 100% I highly recommend you book a hotel for 2024. We only saw the full eclipse for 1:46 seconds but it was absolutely amazing. I've marked my calendar already.