This year, the total solar eclipse happened on April 8, and the northern lights were visible on May 11. Also, a comet is approaching Earth and it may be brighter than Venus in Oct/Nov. We are so lucky!
We were heading towards Carbondale Illinois, where it was supposed to have a total eclipse with the longest duration in the area (4 minutes 10 seconds). We drove more than 7 hours and took a workday off. But it totally worth it. Everyone should agree that partial eclipses are not at all comparable to the totality.
We stayed at St Louis over a weekend and drove out on the Monday morning. The cast had predicted cloudy, so we all cheered up when we saw the blue sky, and it was almost clear! (We had thought about going to Rochester New York to watch the eclipse 10 days ago when the weather reported likely rain and cloudy here in the midwest, lol). The morning traffic was like this everywhere. It was supposed to be 1 hour something drive, but we stuck on the road for more than 3 hours due to multiple accidents. Then lucky again, we entered the totality zone around 12:20pm.
While on the way to Carbondale Illinois, we saw a big sign “total eclipse festival” on the Du Quoin State Fair Ground. (Later, I found this place is famous for Du Quoin State Fair). Wow, we even cannot plan that well. We drove passed 2 minutes and then came back here. When we turned in, the eclipse just started.
The eclipse happened fast and every time you looked up, there were some changes. It was thrilling.
The sun light gets thinner and thinner like the air when you climb higher and higher. The birds make louder and louder noise, until the totality arrived. This was one of the best 4 minutes in life. It was so strange and exotic that you felt you may be in another planet?! This was a different space compared to some minutes ago except that people around you were the same. Everyone has amazed smiles on their faces. The world is united and at the peace. You wish the time could stop here.
The type of beauty you cannot describe.
I was taking pictures, danced with the music that was playing, and thought a lot. It is the type of time that you naturally think about life.
I thought about who I was with when I watched the last eclipse in China. I remembered that I was in my first or second grade. We went out of the classroom during the class time and looked up using a piece of filtering board. I remembered the sun ring and there were also some water basins set out, and some kids were looked into the basin …
When the moon starts moving out, we went out for some music and food.
On the way driving back, I received beautiful lines about the eclipse from a poet. Such a poetic event should be accompanied with the poems and the poet.
It was just a perfect day!
Here is how my son writes about his “totle sooler eeclips”. I was laughing so hard, and finally understand why some of my native speaker friends think my accent is adorable.
