My Eclipse Experience

Today was the day! Eclipse USA!

We decided to not brave the bad traffic and stayed closer to home to view a 94% eclipse.

But we wanted to do something special so we planned to view the eclipse from Mt. Rainier.

We got up very early and drove to the Sunrise Gate at Rainier National Park, a two hour drive. Sunrise is on the East side of the mountain.

We arrived in time to view first light and sunrise. En route we startled two female elk on the road up the mountain and had to drive super slow because driving the switchbacks in the dark were difficult to navigate.

Mt. Rainier at first light

Sunrise at first light over the Eastern skies

Sunrise

Don enjoying the beauty of Sunrise Lake.
Right where he was standing were very prominent elk tracks.

Mt. Rainier after sunrise

The eclipse has begun. Carly is sporting her special eclipse glasses with the mountain in the background.

You can't see a thing with the special glasses on except the sun. It really is amazing.

Even though we were at 6400 ft, it was a warm day.

About midpoint of the eclipse, when only a sliver of the sun showed, the temperature dropped 8 degrees in about 15 minutes, from 72 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit.

We made ourselves comfy in camp chairs. It was a very collegial event with all the folks we met nearby. The Park Rangers also did special programs at the lodge.

When we got tired of looking at the sun with our glasses. We could view the eclipse with the special viewer Carly made with a cereal box.

This is what the eclipse looked like in the box. It was almost complete at this point.

And this is what the sun looked like with only a few minutes left of the eclipse. 

Carly took this photo through her Solar Eclipse glasses.

We may not have seen a total eclipse of the sun but we doubt that few people viewed the eclipse from such a lovely setting.

And this is our Eclipse USA story.