Great American Eclipse of 2024Mini TRApproximately six weeks before the Great American Eclipse of 2024 I set my heart on heading to a location where the sun would be 100% eclipsed by the moon, to view totality. I had a look at the projected weather models, which at that point were based on the historic cloud cover over the last century. Per that model, the clearest skies would be in Texas, with things getting progressively cloudier more North. I then drilled down to specific locations and noticed that April was thunderstorm season in the South, and still very likely to be cloudy. Based on all this, my husband and I felt that Little Rock, AK, had the best chance of good weather, but the flight options from NY were not ideal. Additionally, many hotels were already sold out along the path of totality down South, and while that wouldn’t have been a problem for me as a Hilton Diamond member (48-hour guarantee), it limited our options. For the next four weeks I kept vacillating on where we would have the best chance, and how to make it work with my husband’s work schedule, which offers the least flexibility in April. About a week and half prior to the eclipse, weather models, now based on present data, were showing the exact opposite forecast than that of the historical data- the South would be under a thick cloud cover, while the Northeast would be clear! We reviewed and discussed all options in Western and Northern NY and decided that we couldn’t possibly settle on an exact location that far out. Instead, we decided to head to Albany, NY the night prior, on Sunday night, and then on Monday morning review the local weather and head either West, or North, depending on what looked best. A few days prior to the eclipse we booked two rooms at the Courtyard Albany Troy/Waterfront, as three of my siblings were joining. I would’ve been happy with a cheaper hotel, but I had an Amex offer at Marriott for $120 off $300 spend, so I was looking for a hotel where rooms started in the $150 range- this reduced our effective price to just $96 per room. I did notice that over the next day prices at hotels in Albany kept climbing, so presumably others had this brilliant idea as well.
While the I-87 was fuller than it usually is on a Sunday night, there was no traffic, and we had a smooth drive to Albany. On the drive up I again reviewed the weather, and by this time Western NY was definitely out, as heavy clouds were predicted, and even Plattsburgh (a 2.5-hour drive from Albany) in Northern NY was looking shaky. The best spot closest to us was now in Northwestern Vermont, a 4-hour drive from Albany. We had contacted Chabad to inquire as to a shachris minyan and were told that there would be one at 6AM, and one at 8AM. My husband was leaning towards the 6AM minyan, so that we could be on the road by 7:30, but my siblings weren’t so enamored with waking up at 5:30AM, and we gave in and opted for the 8AM minyan, with the hope that Plattsburgh would still be an option. Monday morning, while the men davened, I again reviewed the forecasts, and while Plattsburgh showed clouds rolling in at about 12PM, Newport, VT, was showing clear skies til 4PM. We decided not to risk it on Plattsburgh, and rather head to Newport, VT, to make sure we got the best views. We set out at 9AM- Route 7 in Vermont was full but with no traffic, and cops were stationed every mile or so, pulling every driver going more than 9 miles over the speed limit. We warned my brother who was driving behind us, but a different brother who was driving up with his friends missed the warning and got pulled. As soon as we hit the I-91, traffic just kept getting worse and worse, with our ETA climbing steadily. It turns out that in addition to spotty coverage, the towers were overwhelmed, and internet was unavailable for much of the time, resulting in inaccurate ETAs and traffic jam predictions. While our drive took close to 6 hours, we pulled into Newport with some time to spare before the partial eclipse started. We topped up our tank and started looking for a spot to park. The park I had originally bookmarked, Prouty Beach, was already full and blocked off. One of the local volunteers was kind enough to direct us to a parking lot near North Country Hospital, and we found a park with a small crowd of viewers and set up shop. My siblings spent a good 15 minutes trying to reach us in order to figure out where we had parked, as phone service was out, but thankfully it was restored, and we were able to meet up. (A different brother who left Albany about an hour after us was unable to make it to Newport due to the increasing traffic and had to pull over in St. Johnsbury.) We took photos by holding eclipse glasses over our phones (unwieldly) and set up one phone to capture video for when totality hit.
The experience of watching the sun slowly get blocked out by the moon is indescribable. At first there was no noticeable changes on the ground, and we snacked while looking up every few minutes to see the moon’s progress. The day was perfectly pleasant, with the sun beating down overhead, but slowly, by degrees, we noticed that the wind was picking up, and the sun was no longer hot overhead. A few minutes later we noticed that the light was definitely dimming, as though it was evening, although the color of the sky did not match the dimness. The moment totality hits is something that cannot be adequately put into words. It’s an otherworld experience, something that feels almost forbidden to witness. There was a bright flash of light a moment before the moon fully obscured the sun. Cheers went up from the crowd, the temperature dropped even further, darkness set in, and the streetlights went on. The experience was surreal, with a 360° horizon sunrise/sunset, as the surrounding areas that were not shrouded in totality had sunlight. Additionally, solar flares jetting out from the sun were clearly visible to the naked eye. I had to remind myself several times that it was 3:27PM, and not 8PM. While totality lasted for a total of 3 minutes and 15 seconds in Newport, it felt like mere seconds before we witnessed the flash again, signaling that the sun was making its reappearance. A cheer went up from the crowd once more, and slowly the darkness receded, and the temperature started climbing again. I’m writing this less than 48 hours after the eclipse, and I have already rewatched the video we took several times. The camera did not fully capture the darkness of the sky, nor the black hole of the sun, but hearing our reactions over and over again is priceless…
We hung around the park til the eclipse had mostly receded, at about 4:30PM, and then headed to our cars for the drive home. While internet was non-existent, one of us managed to capture a signal for a short moment to get our route home loaded, and our ETA was scheduled for 11:13PM, with 359 miles to go. Thirty minutes in, we had 358 miles to go. Two hours later we had knocked down 27 miles, with 332 to go. Our ETA had now climbed to 12:58AM- not ideal, but bearable.
My brothers and sister in the car ahead of us kept us entertained with an impromptu puppet show (and of course, we reciprocated).
Three hours in we had driven 36 miles, and our ETA had climbed to 1:26AM.
At this point we had to stop to use the bathroom, and the men needed to daven mincha. We took exit 23 off the I-91 and stopped at the first gas station. There was a line out the door to use the restrooms, and after waiting a good 15 minutes, someone at the head of the line fainted, and everyone was asked to leave. We walked over to the next gas station and waited another 30 minutes to use the restroom there (my brother scouted the bushes and informed us that there was a line to use that too). After topping up the gas tanks again, we were on our way. At this point I took over at the wheel, and our ETA had climbed to 2:34AM.
Two hours later, after 6 hours on the road, we were 90 miles from Newport, VT, and our ETA was now 3:45AM (my father suggest we find a Pesach program in the area, since it didn’t seem that we would be home before that…).
At about 12AM we pulled over again for another bathroom break and for some instant noodle soup, and switched drivers again. At this point, while the roads were still packed, traffic was letting up slowly but surely, but our ETA had now climbed to 4:41AM.
The relief of being able to drive at normal speeds was immense (my brother compared it to breaking the fast after Yom Kippur). Thankfully once the roads were clear(er) we were able to knock the ETA down a bit, and we pulled into our driveway at 4:14AM.
Would I willingly sit in traffic again for close to 12 hours? I’m not sure.
Would I proactively book a hotel room for the night after so that we don’t have to deal with crazy traffic but still experience the eclipse? Absolutely.
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Topic: Total Solar Eclipse North America April 8 2024 (Read 38842 times)