Thygerson Shenanigans: The Great American Eclipse

Way back in the spring of this year (which seems like years ago even though it was only months), when we were exploring the idea of moving to the Jackson area, I had a conversation with our orthodontist, Dr. Hoggan. I explained that we might be moving out of state and was asking for advice on upcoming orthodontic decisions for the kids. While we chatted, he get excited about our being in Jackson Hole for the big August eclipse - his wife had a poster and they were planning to make the trip up from Colorado to view it.
Well, I had not heard anything about an eclipse, and didn't think too much about it - their family must be some serious astronomy geeks, I thought. ("Geeks" has a negative connotation - but I don't mean it that way. We're all geeks about something - I'm a theater geek, Kip's a building geek, Caleb is a Pokemon geek. You get what I mean.) But I did do some research and thought, "Cool! We'll be right there for it." After reading up a bit I saw that there were kind of a lot of people that were excited for the eclipse, so I went ahead and bought some special glasses online before the rush. No biggie.

Fast forward to moving time (July) - we had told people from Parker that they could come stay with us to view the eclipse, but school would already have started, and 9 hours is along way to drive for a fast event like an eclipse...so we didn't really have any takers. But our old friends/neighbors the Givens asked if they could come up from Utah to view with us, since we were in the "Path of Totality, in which the sun would be entirely eclipsed instead of just partially like in Utah or Colorado. We said SURE! Mom and Dad T as well as Uncle Phil and Aunt Lorna wanted to come up too - YAY! The more the merrier!

Locally, people were preparing almost as if it were some kind of disaster - stocking up on TP, water, and food; mobilizing emergency personnel and resources, etc.

We had our glasses.
We had friends and family to hang out with.
We watched a few videos as a family to understand exactly what the eclipse was, and to be prepared.

Noting could have prepared us.

It was that amazing! Our friend Nathan Given scouted out a perfect spot 30 miles north in Swan Valley, Idaho, where we'd have the longest amount of exposure (or coverage, however you prefer). We got up and going early because we were unsure how bad traffic would be, but it was not heavy at all. Here we are chilling at the park with grandma, grandpa, lorna and phil:

The kids played while we counted down to the big moment:

Beginning around 10:30, through our glasses, we could see the moon staring to come across the sun. There was not noticeable difference right away, you could only tell if you looked up and saw a piece of the sun being "bitten" away.

This was taken by a friend (Nancy Hing) from Gypsum, who drove up with her super nice camera and filters. This is what it looked like through the glasses.

Wow - look at that form ! (kip playing frisbee with Nathan)

Katie and Beth

As time passed, we'd put on our glasses every couple of minutes and see how it was progressing. Halfway across and there still wasn't noticeable changes in the light or temperature.

However, as it got closer to totality....we first noticed the temperature begin to drop. It was so strange, we went from sweating and feeling sunburned to feeling chilly and getting jackets, mid-day, with the sun still apparently shining.

It got progressively cooler, but the light wasn't noticeably changed until the last few minutes.

The final minutes - waiting for totality:

The last minute or so before totality had everyone on their feet, jumping and cheering in anticipation. And when the moon completely covered the sun and we took off our glasses and looked around...

Indescribable.

Breathtaking.

Surreal.

A rush.

Cheering, clapping, hugging.

The park was plunged into twilight - at mid-day.

It was one of the most wicked cool things we've ever experienced.

For 2 minutes we stared around at each other and up at the sky, marveling at it all.

A friend described it this way: "It was like Jesus was coming!"

Truly remarkable.

One final show:

The "diamond ring" effect as the moon continued in it's path across the sun.

And then it was done. It did not take long for the light and heat to return - it's amazing that only a small part of the sun can be showing and it feel's like full light and heat. We packed up and headed back home. The return traffic was a little heavier, and McKinley was tuckered out from the fun weekend, so she got a little nap in.

We spent the rest of day saying goodbye to the Givens, then trying to get prepared for the first day of school the next morning. We *might* have been looking up information on when/where the next total eclipse is coming to North America, because we definitely want to be there!!

A few more memories of being together for the first time in a year:

Abby and Rachel