Today, we experienced a once in a lifetime celestial event. We viewed a total solar eclipse that swept over the Continental United States and with us living near Nashville, we were in the 70 mile radius of the path of totality.
Because we were in the range for totality, hundreds of thousands of people were estimated to come to Nashville to view this event. The schools and preschools were closed and viewing parties were happening everywhere. We were delighted to host our dear friends from Cincinnati for this event at our house. We love spending time with them and seeing them and experiencing the solar eclipse with them was the icing on top of the cake. They arrived Saturday evening and after sleeping in, we just hung out at home, prepared some meals and just chatted and relaxed.
In the late afternoon, our town hosted a Pre-Eclipse Party at the park near our house with free live music and a kids play zone. So we took our cooler, lawn chairs and enjoyed listening to some country music while the children built foam houses and played Gaga ball.
Cooling down on a very hot day:
Even though the schools were closed on Monday, both children learned about the upcoming eclipse. Elliot and his friends wearing their special glasses:
Amelia and her eclipse craft:
And then it was the morning of the big event. After a good breakfast, we headed over to my friend's house for a viewing party. Her family lives on a farm house up on the hill and she graciously invited us to view the eclipse from their property.
The partial eclipse began at 11:58am and the total eclipse happened at 1:27pm, lasting almost 2:40 minutes in Gallatin, TN (the second longest time of totality across 48 States). To make the waiting time pass by quicker, there was lots of yummy food, games/ toys for the kids and good conversations among adults. Also, we made sure to put our special glasses on every few minutes to see the progression of the moon covering up the sun until totality.
Also, some interesting things we noticed while experiencing this solar eclipse: The heat and humidity got less, the more the moon covered up the sun. My body could tell that something was going on as during totality I felt a bit off. Most likely, this was due to the barometric pressure dropping so quickly. It got very quiet during the total eclipse as birds stopped chirping and there was no breeze going. The crickets started chirping closer to the end of totality. It wasn't as dark as one would expect because the sun is much larger than the moon. Also, we saw a beautiful sunset all around us, not just limited to the West. Maybe this little video I compiled will show you some of the amazing things we experienced:
And after 2:40 minutes the total eclipse was over and within a second, the sun was shining as brightly as on any other day. Even all the kids were enthralled to watch the eclipse and it was for sure a momentous event we won't forget. It's amazing how wonderful nature is. And best of all, we were able to share this experience with our friends.
We are already making plans to go up to Ohio in 2024 for the next total eclipse, projected to last over 7 minutes...
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