Monday April 8, 2024. We’d been hearing about the date for months. Total Solar eclipse. Once in a lifetime. Honestly up until about a 2 weeks ago I really didn’t think too much about it. Even though I was living in “the path of totality” in Vermont. (What did that even mean….) They kept saying we needed clear skies to really experience it. Well, clear skies at the beginning of April is HIGHLY unlikely in Vermont, especially considering that on Thursday April 4th we had the biggest snowstorm of the winter…. and it was Spring. But all the 10 day forecasts had the weather calling for sunny skies and almost 60 degrees. So I started to get a little interested.
About a week before I went to our little local library and picked up our eclipse glasses. We would need those for the partial, I learned, but not the total. I listened to a few podcasts that explained the phenomenon and they spoke with folks who had experienced one before. I was getting a little more excited.
But where to view it was the next question. They started to predict that Vermont could see an influx of almost 200,000 people just coming to view it, since it was one of the best (if not only) opportunities on the east coast to view totality. And within driving distance of Boston and NYC. (FYI the population of Vermont is about 650,000 people.) I heard it called “Foliage season on steroids.”
We don’t have a lot of highways here. Two of them to be precise and then lots of winding, hilly dirt roads. And it is mud season here right now, so there’s that.
Back to viewing options. Well my little town is an hour away from the big city of Burlington (pop. 45,000) which was expected to have a full 3 minutes of totality. My little town was expected to have one minute of totality. I opted to stay home and sit on my back deck with friends and hope that one minute would be enough.
The weather was absolutely incredible that morning. Bluebird skies, a slight breeze and balmy temperatures for April. At around 3 pm we gathered on the back deck, which happened to be at the town park so we had the company of about 25 cars, mostly local families. There was no school today so kids got to experience it as well. It was a festive atmosphere. People had set up pop up tents, or mini tailgate parties out of their cars. We were a few hundred feet away in our yard so we were close enough, but still had our own little space. I used my glasses (carefully, protecting my eyes!!) while looking at the partial eclipse. It was a really neat experience to view the moon slowly passing over the sun, from a sliver to half until a sliver of sun remaining.
Around 3:15 things started to get a little weird. The first thing I noticed was the temperature was dropping and the winds had picked up a bit. And then it was the light that completely changed. It wasn’t like a sunset where things slowly got darker at dusk. but this light was like nothing I had seen before. The best way I can describe it is “trippy.” My body started to feel the way it might with some mind altering substance. The light felt almost shimmery and shaky, when I looked at the ground, and I thought something was going on with my vision . The air felt even colder and then suddenly the sun was gone. We could look up and the first thing we saw is what looked like little dancing beads of orange light from behind the moon (aka Bailey’s Beads.) Then moments later, the next thing I saw was a glimmer of bright light from behind the moon (which I learned is the diamond ring.) I also noticed what I thought was an incredibly bright star right below the moon, which turned out to be Jupiter!
At this point everything got quiet, children, dogs, everyone. Except for the sounds of “ahhhhhh” “Oh my gosh” Wow” Unreal”. I can’t remember which of those I uttered, but probably a combination of them all. It was then I noticed that tears were just flowing from eyes. And I don’t mean sniffles, but full on rivers of ugly crying tears. (And if you know me, you know I am not typically a crier.) I felt this mystical feeling in my body, Almost as if I was having an out of body experience. I felt unbelievable calm and relaxed (well except for the crying.) I was smiling and crying and laughing and felt what I can only describe as pure joy and peace. It’s something I’ve never felt before. I’m not religious but I would dare to call this a spiritual experience. They say it was one minute but honestly I don’t know, and I can’t imagine that 3 minutes would have been any more powerful, just longer lasting.
Then slowly the sun began to reappear. And then it was light again. Children were playing, dogs were barking and people started to pack up their cars to begin the journey home.
I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have viewed this from my backyard. I did not take any pictures, and I honestly don’t think the pictures could do any justice to what I experienced. I have seen some beautiful photos, (and I am including some here then by Michael) but I feel that would have taken away from my experience if I tried to to capture it with my phone, instead of with my heart as I feel like I did.
Around 5 pm I looked out the window from our home towards the main road and saw traffic barely moving. So Michael and I decided to take a walk to check it out. As I mentioned we live in a “tiny” town and traffic is not a thing. We have not one, but 3 covered bridges within a half mile from home. Not exactly a highway. Well, we took a walk up the mountain road, over the bridges and all three roads into our town were lined with cars heading east and south. For miles. And miles. Hundreds. Thousands? (This traffic actually went on for hours!) I walked along the road and chatted with folks from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, southern Vermont. And no one looked angry, as you might normally see in standstill traffic. They had just witnessed something so amazing and were now driving on a beautiful dirt road with a flowing steam alongside it and 3 covered bridges. Hopefully the gratefulness, joy and peace will stay with them on the rest of their journey. And that they will remember this “once in a lifetime” moment in our brave little state.
(Note: Immediately following the eclipse I googled… “next total solar eclipse” and in 2026 I may have to make a trip to Iceland, Portugal or Spain…just sayin)
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It was something special for sure! Glad you got to experience it!
We watched in Traverse City for about 87%totality. Although absolutely AMAZING, hearing people speak of totality makes we want to travel to see one. Happy for you! ❤️🌞