Eclipse

There had been talk for a long time about how Sean and I's hometown of Idaho Falls (well, technically Sean's hometown is Rexburg) was in the path of totality for the eclipse and one of the top 10 cities to view the eclipse in the nation. Neither of us had ever seen one in totality before. I really wanted to go, but was a bit nervous because they had predicted huge crowds and traffic. Sean was going to be out of town on a guys' camping trip and Jackson and Bode had school starting the next day, so I was worried I was going to be stuck on the freeway for hours with all four kids on my own. I decided to play it safe and just stay in American Fork, thinking 90% viewing would just have to do. 

I called my mom the Saturday before and asked her how the crowds were. She said it wasn't nearly as crowded as they were predicting, and that's all I needed to hear to change my mind.  I told her I would check with her again the next morning, and if it still didn't seem bad, the kids and I were going to come after all. By that point, my mind was already made up though and I ended up just waking up early the next morning and packing everyone in and hitting the road for home. 

It was fun to spend Sunday with my parents and sort of surprise them by showing up earlier than they expected. We had Sunday dinner together and took a ride in the Model T around the city to check out the crowd. It was fun seeing Idaho Falls busier than usual and seeing everyone so excited about the eclipse. It was definitely busier than usual, but it still didn't seem nearly as crazy as they predicted. I actually think they sort of scared a lot of people from coming to Idaho Falls with all of their dire predictions.

The kids also had fun going for a ride in my dad's new Thunderbird.

When I told Sean of my plan to go to Idaho Falls, he ended up meeting us there. He was coming home from what he and his friends call "man camp" and they were driving through Idaho Falls to get home. He stayed with us and had his friends drive his car home to Utah. I am so glad he was with us!

We ended up driving up to the foothills outside of Idaho Falls to watch the eclipse. It was the perfect spot because you could see all around without any obstruction. We had a good time watching with my parents, Karl, and Sean's parents.

Watching the moon cross over the sun little by little.

I was paranoid about the kids using the glasses. Thankfully to Molly it was just another day and she had no inclination to look at the sun!

It was cool watching the light gradually dim little by little and it sort of felt like you were looking at everything through a filer. It wasn't really very noticeable until just a little bit before totality. We couldn't believe how bright it still was even with just a tiny sliver of the sun still exposed!

And then all of the sudden it got dark SO quickly! The corona appeared and I can honestly say it was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced in my life. Stars appeared, the temperature dropped dramatically, and the 360 degree sunset on the horizon was beautiful. People started cheering, and there were even people lighting off fireworks! The coolest part for me was definitely the corona. It was amazingly beautiful and almost surreal. It really looked like the pictures you see. I was torn because I wanted to photograph it, but I ended up choosing not to, so I could instead just experience it. It all happened so quickly! I did snap a couple of iPhone pictures, but they were terrible. Sean took this one though that shows better how dark it got, even though it doesn't really show how the corona really appeared.

Sean was hesitant about going at first, but admitted after he was so glad he did. We both thought it was so much cooler than we expected. I can see now why totality is such a big deal. We jumped on the freeway for home right after, and we were really lucky because we missed the crazy traffic and were home by 4:30 in the afternoon. We got back to Utah in normal time and with plenty of time to get the kids all ready for their first day of school. We had a friend watch from Rigby, which is only 15 minutes north of Idaho Falls, and he didn't get home until well after midnight. I think there were a lot more people watching north of Idaho Falls because the traffic was bumper to bumper on the freeway from Rexburg to Malad I guess. Glad we narrowly escaped, and so glad we went!