10:24 a.m. at Durkee, OR (DY-Q)
Personal eclipse stories are flying about like birds right now. When Adam Trent and I returned from Oregon, there were already lots of stories and photos awaiting us! We went to Durkee, OR, which was not as welcoming as Baker, where we stayed. In fact they called out the National Guard to handle the unwelcome hordes! The eclipse was fabulous from that site, though!
Durkee, OR, setup: Diane has filters on binoculars and scope, as well as eyes.
Diane is disguised by little eclipses
Heather Voboril and Melissa Sherwood both went to the Oregon mountaintops where they actually met each other for the first time. Melissa says they had a lot of birds up there, too, which Durkee didn’t have. Melissa’s family video is here: https://youtu.be/WHyK_HoQtHg
Here’s Heather’s eclipse series (Click to enlarge):
Heather Voboril caught the entire sequence (click to enlarge)
Donna La Casse writes: “Enjoyed it from up high seeing Mt Hood and Adams in the Ochoco National Forest. Met these astronomy geeks with their equipment! I did not take but one picture but liked the solar flares and sunspots. Took 1 photo from the eve with the fellows, and you see the moon shadow in the distance leaving our area.”
D La Casse’s Ochoco Natl Forest site with astronomy geeks.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, everyone who couldn’t get away still had a great time, if you can believe these photos!
Ed, Kay, Ken & Rachel hit the jackpot at Sehmel Homestead Park
Ken and Rachel receiving alien messages during eclipse
Laurel celebrates at work
Faye wears cool glasses and cool raptors at Belfair
Carol wears cool glasses and cool raptors
And of course you can make your own eclipse! At Stonehenge on the way home, Adam and I celebrated with Moon Pies!
Archeological evidence from ancient observatory at Stonehenge on the Columbia
Make your own eclipse with a Moon Pie at Stonehenge-on-the Columbia
I especially love the Moon Pie eclipse!
We went to the OR coast and stayed in Netarts. We were going to go to Lincoln City for the eclipse but the night before, I thought of the Nestucca National Wildlife Reserve (home of the 2014 Tundra Bean Goose) which was inside the zone of totality. Nestucca was ready for bear, crowds that is, but they didn’t even get to their capacity of 200 or 45 vehicles. They were really nice, let us in before the reserve officially opened and even had flowers in one of their pit toilets. The fog burned off just before the eclipse started and stayed clear until the sun was about 1/2 covered then the temperatures dropped to the point that the atmospheric moisture condensed into fog. We were still able to see the transect of the sun by the moon, the corolla, solar prominences and I saw a few birds on the reserve.