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| We all have eclipse glasses, even the baby |
Solar eclipses are miraculous, fascinating and awe
inspiring, and the Great American Eclipse on August 21 brought this amazing
astronomical experience, in some form, to most of the United States. We were fortunate to camp on beautiful Watts
Bar Lake in Tennessee where the sun was totally eclipsed by the moon for 2
minutes and 38 seconds. We were
especially fortunate because we got to share this unique experience with
Leslie, Natalie and little Asher, though Asher (being 2 months old) will likely
not remember the experience.
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| Under the awning and the baby shelter in our campsite by the lake |
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| Out looking at the sun |
The young family drove in from Knoxville early in the
morning to beat the hordes of eclipse peepers moving south from city hotels to the
tiny rural towns an hour away where the eclipse would be “total”. Highway signs all around Knoxville warned of
increased traffic and admonished drivers to plan ahead. So, they arrived for breakfast, and had
plenty of time to set up an eclipse friendly shelter for their young son before
the main event started at 1:03. Our
campsite was situated so that we could drag our chairs out from under the
awning, don our protective eye wear and look up at the sun to see the
eclipse.
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| Russ took some great photos of the eclipse |
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| The "diamond ring" |
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| Darkness during totality |
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| "Snake shadows" made by the eclipse through the leaves |
At first, when the moon started to move in front of the sun,
it looked like a tiny nibble had been taken out the bright yellow sun. Over the next 1.5 hours, the nibble turned into
a bigger bite and it started looking like someone had made a meal out of this yellow
cookie. Gradually the world around us
became darker. The birds and insects got
quieter. The breeze stopped
blowing. It became absolutely still. Then suddenly, it became dark as the moon
moved fully in front of the sun. Not middle
of the night dark...at the end of sunset
dark. Yet, unlike sunset where the
colorful sky is in only one direction, the colors here were in all directions. Then, 2+ minutes later, the moon moved a
little further along, and it became bright (even with only a tiny sliver of sun
showing) again. Slowly the sun became
more exposed and the world returned to normal.
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| A delicate sunrise viewed from our front porch |
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| Our campsite from the water |
We witnessed this once in a lifetime experience in a
delightful campground on a beautiful lake.
We rarely promote campgrounds in this blog, but Hornsby Hollow
Campground is so wonderful, that it deserves a mention. Built on a peninsula, most of the campsites
are right on the water’s edge. We launched
our kayaks from our campsite to go for a paddle each day. A good part of that section of the lake is
still undeveloped, so there are fun, undisturbed coves to explore, and birds to
watch. Though it was a holiday weekend
in Tennessee, and though the campground was full of campers for the eclipse,
the lake never felt over run with boats.
When we got too hot, we swam in the swimming area a few steps across the
peninsula from our campsite, or just jumped in the lake off our campsite. Campground staff were kind, humane and
thoughtful, and our experience staying there was effected by that.
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| Our boats by the water |
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| Happy Us on Watts Bar Lake |
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