All,
I don't usually don't post online where I am going before I go and in this thread I pretty much said where I was going. And since July of last year the girls and myself had been planning to go. The place I have been going to for 57 years in northern Vermont is winterized but my relative told us we could go there and do whatever we needed to do to see the eclipse. They were staying an hour and a half away in their main home to watch it from the house.
During this time my 96 year old mom has been having health problems and in the past 2 weeks they were getting worse. My brother has been talking care of her but by the middle of last week he could not longer do that. A call to 911 and them leaving because there really was nothing they could do, and then a call out to have her evaluated and were again told to call 911. This time on Thursday they admitted her and we were making plans for her to go to hospice. On Friday evening just hours before heading to Vermont she passed away.
I had visited her on Thursday evening but she most likely never knew I was there. So on Saturday morning the girls and I headed off to Vermont. Because the cabin was winterized we stayed in a motel in New Hampshire less than an hours drive from the cabin. Northern Vermont was going to have some of the best weather on Monday and Mother Nature did not disappoint. Thousands of people from all over the world descended on our area but we ourselves were for the most part shielded from the pandamonium. A few hours before the eclipse was to start I received a text from my relatives son who told us high clouds in their part of Vermont were moving in and they asked how things were were we were at the cabin. They were perfect! They began their treck up and when they arrived we waited together for the event.
I set up my phone to record in 4K at 5 minutes before totality. Because of the possibility that the sun would damage the sensors I kept the sun out of view. I have not viewed it fully yet and will post it later tonight.
I have been researching the best settings to use on my camera, and did exactly what I felt was the best advice. Again, because of the possibility of sensor damage from the sun I just used my solar glasses as a filter. I held the glasses over the lens and Jessica pushed the shutter. Once totality arrived we stopped using the glasses and Jessica just pushed away as we took off our glasses and watched it.
I know some of you don't care about the eclipse but until you experience it you really have no idea. This was without a doubt the best event that I have ever viewed of any kind. The sun starts setting quickly and the temperature drops. The birds started acting weird and the area starts getting a reddish glow. Then in minutes everything goes dark and the stars came out. Just before totality the train went by and when reaching town the crowd became so large, there was no place to park. A few individuals rushing to see totality parked their vehicle too close to the track and the train that passed us minutes before crashed into them damaging 4 vehicles and sending one to the hospital. During totality there were so many people there we could hear them all yelling two miles away at the state beach built by the CCC.
This is before totality using the glasses as a filter but not fully zoomed in. All photos at 1/500 f.11 ISO 1250 set at infinity.
Filtered just before totality.
Totality. The bottom left shows a crater on the moon that the light is passing through. At least I think so
Just emerging from totality.
Filtered right after totality.