It was on March 18, 1988 when I first witnessed a Total Solar Eclipse. It happened in my hometown of General Santos City in the Philippines. I was only 12-years-old then and in sixth grade, but I can still remember most of what happened that day and the previous days before it. It was like a festival in our city with stores selling souvenirs and there were many foreigners who traveled to our city just to witness that special event – something that some could only witness once in their lifetime. I felt lucky to have witnessed that amazing event; an amazing part of history.
And I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be able to witness it again, today, August 21, 2017, after 29 years…here in America. Like what my friend said, I am lucky to witness it again because some people don’t even get to witness it even once. I do feel lucky! As for my husband, it’s been 39 years since he saw a Total Solar Eclipse so this is a special day for the both of us.
Our city of Asheville is not in the path of totality. We only get an obscured amount of 99.2%, but that’s already great enough for me, lacking only .08 percent of being a total total. The closest town to us that is going to witness totality is Bryson City, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina, which are about an hour drive from here. We decided to just stay here at home and watch it from here.
The hubs got these solar eclipse glasses from Citizen-Times (a part of the USA Today network) for free and only had to pay a $2.00 shipping.
The Total Solar Eclipse will start at 1:08 PM, peaks at 2:37 PM and ends at 4:01 PM here in Asheville. So if you ever need me between those times, you know where to find me – at our backyard waiting for that amazing event to happen. 🙂
It was fun talking about the Total Solar Eclipse in 1988 with my schoolmates and reminiscing about that marvelous event. We were so young then, but we do remember. And today will be another event that I will for sure add in my memory book.
What’s your take on the total solar eclipse happening today? Do you have any plans on how you’re going to witness it?
I just watched it through one of those pin holes with my cereal box. It is really neat to be able to see it. I will remember it for quite a while. Eclipses are very intriguing.
We just watched the Eclipse. It was amazing! I’m glad we scored our glasses early. They were going on eBay for RIDONCULOUS prices.
Apparently these types of glasses are selling out everywhere! Can’t wait what everybody has to say about the total solar eclipse.
We found glasses at a hardware of all places at the last minute. My kids’ school purchased glasses for all the kids but they were some on the recall list so the kids ended up having to safely view it online via the NASA website. Bummer huh? Safe viewing but a huge bummer as they were looking forward to viewing the eclipse.
We had a lot of cloud cover but it was still cool. How awesome you had a chance to see not one but TWO in your lifetime!
I am sure the festival made it even better! What fun!
I didn’t really care much about it, but my kids were excited, so we went outside and saw it. We picked up some glasses from Lowes and it was pretty cool. It didn’t get dark here though.
Hope you enjoyed the eclipse! We were supposed to get partial coverage (70% I believe) here in the Las Vegas area, but the clouds made any type of viewing very difficult. I was more than happy to view NASA’s live feed online instead.
We made pinhole boxes, and they actually worked. We counted down to the peak of the eclipse (for us, about 72%). It was sunny, but a strange kind of dim glow. I am actually looking forward to the 2024 eclipse when we can travel right to the path of totality.
Everyone talked excitedly about the solar eclipse. My relatives in the US looked forward to it. I hope you and your family enjoyed watching the eclipse.
We are in Panama City, Florida, and were at 88.3%, which was enough for us. I mean that’s more than some were going to see. We watched the whole thing, and it was amazing!
We, unfortunately, got rained out. It started raining right as the eclipse began – and stopped right as it ended. It was like a joke from mother nature.
The solar eclipse is one of the experience I will never forget. Lucky us we live in an area where the total eclipse will be see. Can you imagine those people who needs to drive miles miles away and camp for 3 days? I think we are on the same age. I remember when I was a kid I was playing on the street when eclipse happen. That when I am still in the Philippines I can no longer remember the year.
We had hoped to get solar eclipse glasses for all of our kids, but couldn’t find them anywhere. Not to mention it was overcast all morning – all the way up to 11:20.
A friend of mine sent me glasses and I didn’t even use them. I think FB ruined the eclipse for me. I remember there was one when I was in grade school because our teacher had us bring shoe boxes a few days before and we cut holes in them and decorated them.
Cool tool to witness an amazing phenomena. Children love to see such kind of scene and they need something like this the next time it happens.
I actually missed this eclipse, I slept through it! HA! But I need to make a point to watch the 2024 one because I should get the full thing then!!
I always get so nervous about pretecting the eyes!! those glasses are a must!
We ended up using my husbands welding helmet as we couldn’t find glasses anywhere!
I didn’t get a chance to witness since I was at the dentist at the time it happened, but it would have been so fun to see. Especially since I never seen an eclipse before.
The eclipse was totally amazing even though some people were feeling kind of meh about it. It’s a great experience to see an eclipse with your own eyes but also had a fun time looking at several photos of the eclipse from people all over the world.
I didn’t prepare in any way for it. My neighbor had one of the cereal box projectors so we got to see through that. Really though, the images that people have been posting online are much better than what our view was anyway.. I did cave later on in the day and buy some fun themed (junk) food.
We were invited to a solar eclipse viewing party for the kids in the neighborhood. They all took a quick glance through their safety glasses then went back to playing with one another. On the other hand all the dads were lined up through the whole eclipse enjoying the show.
Even though I knew this was coming, I did not prepare at all! Wish I had gotten some safety glasses for myself and my son.
I was never prepared when it came to South Africa. 😮 I wish I saw it though. 🙁 What an experience!