Total Eclipse - 03:36pm - a photo on Flickriver

            How lucky to live within a couple of hours from the path of totality! We picked up our daughter from school (most schools in Maine released the children early that day) and decided to drive toward Millinocket, see what'd happen. We don't like the interstate - especially not on April 8th 2024 - so we took a smaller, more scenic route. Our breaths stopped when we saw the mighty Katahdin beckon us by the side of the road. We'd found the place! We parked by a boat ramp and joined a little crew of curious people already sporting their special glasses, staring at the sun in their foldable chairs. I included very similar shots (most from my phone) taken at different times to try and give a sense of the changes happening around us. It was slow, or seemed so, at first. Then, about 5 minutes before totality, someone somewhere hit the fast forward button and everything changed very rapidly. Parts of the sky turned as dark as petroleum, like before a storm, as the sunset colors descended on the mountains and the sky behind us was still blue. A big bird flapped his way to the shelter of a tree. Then everything stopped in a strange state of dusk: silent and still, cold. I cannot imagine what it must have felt like a long time ago when we didn't know what it was because in 2024 a sense of fear and a strong desire to hide came over me. I felt exposed and vulnerable, like a mouse in the open. But I, and everybody else, also felt awe. People clapped and cheered, some hugged. The glasses came off and we all stared at our big star together. Some cried. And, just like that, because the moon, the sun and the earth have other things to do, a brilliant diamond of light let us know it was over. People disappeared, in a remarkable hurry. Had we all let our guards down too long? It was hard to believe what we had seen and that it would likely be the only time in our life. Many people were much older, what did they think about on the drive home? I would have liked to stay on my rock and ponder, keep watching the moon as it slowly made its way out but there was a little six year old with us, bouncing with life, that was eager to just get back to now. What will she remember, I wonder?
   

Taken on: April 8, 2024

Tags:

maine

solar eclipse

path of totality

light

change

katahdin

mount

baxter state park

millinocket

april 8th 2024

sun

eclipse

full

ice

lake

story

timestamp

sunny

sky

dusk « less

Sets appears in: • Total Solar Eclipse, Maine - April 8th 2024

Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T3i, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, 371mm, ISO 3200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	371mm
ISO:	3200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Show full info

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