After a 4am trip to the bathroom in 40 degrees with Laney I was surprised I was able to go back to sleep and even better sleep in until 7:30 when Ryan needed to go! I've devised a strategy for cold weather by burying my head inside the sleeping bag which tricks my brain into thinking it's still midnight. This could be dangerous.
Ryan went with Dave to the bathroom and slid into my sleeping bag with me when she got back. Then Brayden climbed in our tent because he saw Ryan's shoes outside the door. After Wrestle Fest 2017, I started packing up so we could go make some breakfast in the RV. Here was our beautiful little spot on the Ewing property.
Grammie and Mrs. Marilyn had a corporate meeting at 8am in Jackson and we were all wondering how traffic was in town. As we were walking up to the RV Grammie was walking out as they had just gotten back. Laney and I made everyone some bagels and we ate quickly to be able to head over to the area where we would be viewing the eclipse.
Grammie had downloaded an app to notify us of the different stages so I took her phone to the area where we would be viewing to get it set up. Within a few seconds the voice told us first contact would happen in 60 seconds! We all scrambled to grab our glasses and see what the sun looked like!
We spent the next hour watching the changes, snacking and playing with all the dogs. The girls decided they wanted to see if glow-in-the-dark facepaint would work during the eclipse so Dave painted their faces too. It was so cool to watch the sun change with every minute we were sitting there.
The first thing we noticed when the sun was about half covered was the change in temperature. I thought I was prepared with a long sleeve and beanie but I was already cold! Once totality was about a minute away I tried so hard to slow down and make sure to look around me to notice all the changes. The lighting changed dramatically in the 1 1/2 hours we'd been there.
Once the sun was completely covered we were amazed! All the birds quieted, the dogs settled down, the crickets started their chirping, a bat flew around us and what we thought were people yelling around us we now think were combined with coyotes. The horizon above changed to a soft sunset.
The totality we were able to capture was far from what we saw, but of course we had to take a picture!
Champagne was passed around and we all toasted the event and good friends to share it with! We were actually a little sad to put back on our glasses. It was pretty amazing to see the sun pop back out the instant the moon moved across the other side. Ryan got one more picture of the sun then the dogs were ready to play again!
After about an hour of watching the sun come up, we headed inside to enjoy a beautiful brunch on the deck. Dave, our resident line cook, whipped up some grilled cheeses and we all feasted and chatted in the lovely afternoon sun. When the kids were finished we all played bocce ball again with Ryan and Laney sharing the championship. Once people were retiring for naps and heading home we played a few innings of camp ball. We even had a roaring crowd into the second inning! Brayden, Ryan, and I cremated Dad, Grammie, and Laney 11 to 5. Fortunately for them there was no photographic evidence of the event.
We headed back to our cabin and Dave got in a few hours of work while I cooked a quick dinner. We shared stories with our neighbors of their experiences there. One of our neighbors had a telescope set up for the event which he'd shown us they day before. It was awesome to view the sun with it's spots, fiery glow, and flares then. I can't imagine what it was like during the eclipse! He also had a camera set up which capture an amazing picture during totality.
Dave and I grabbed a few beers and walked with everyone back down to the river - this time with water shoes - for the girls to walk across the creek to the rock pile again. It wasn't very exciting without us so we told them we would put on our shoes the next night and all go across. I wasn't interested in the freezing water at all and the girls haven't caught on yet to this strategy!
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