The Great American Eclipse has come and went.  We live in New York and we had 70% coverage. On the 20th, my Mom and I decided that we would go over to the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers. The museum would be open Monday and have viewing cards, solar telescopes, a earth moon system model to teach the children about the solar eclipse and the materials to make a viewer.  The event was from 12:30 -3 pm.  I had wanted to get there early because I was worried about parking.  Unfortunately we didn’t get there until closer to 1 pm because we wanted to bring a lunch and we had to make a stop at Dunkin’ Donuts.

When we got there it was packed.  We had to drive around for approximately 20 minutes to find a spot.  Literally every side road was packed.  I finally got lucky and found a woman leaving with her child right across the street!  We got online approximately 1:15 and we didn’t get into the museum until 2:35.  On the line everyone was so nice.  There was a family ahead of us that let us look through their special googles.  I honestly didn’t see anything through them.  I didn’t get us any glasses because I figured my 3 year old would not keep them on and I didn’t want to be encouraging him to look up.   We spoke with the family directly in front of us as well.  Spencer couldn’t keep his hands out of her pockets and she was so agreeable about it.  Honestly you couldn’t ask to be on a better line.  There was no arguing or getting annoyed that the line was so long.  Everyone behaved so well including my son.   There were kids running all over the lawn playing with one another and there was a nice breeze.  Of course I tried to get a solar eclipse selfie.  I got some gorgeous ones of the bright sun, but you couldn’t really see the moon over it at all.

As we got closer to the doors, it started getting a little darker.  It went from a bright sunny day to cloudy and feeling like it would rain any minute.  We got inside just before the eclipse happened.  Even though there was only 70% coverage there was a noticeable darkening.

During

After

Once the main event was over the crowd thinned a bit and I stood on line to see through the solar telescope which is what I really wanted to do.  While I was on line, viewers were passed around and I got my first glimpse of the eclipse.  It was stunning.  The museum also had a large filter you could put your head in.  Honestly it was just like looking through the small hand made viewers.  The woman behind me was lovely and sent me a picture she took through a viewer on her phone.   When we made it to the telescope I tried to get Spencer to see the eclipse but he wasn’t sure how to look properly.  We were very fortunate that the clouds had passed and I got to get a full look at the sun.  It was stunning.  All in all it was a marvelous day, full of wonder and excitement.  I can’t wait for the next one in 2024.

Tell me, what did you do for the eclipse?  Join our Facebook group and share your photos and what you did.