“Expedition – Total Solar Eclipse 2017”

“Happiness is a journey, not the destination - Anonymous”

Date: August 21 2017

Eclipse start 9.30 AM

Totality for 1 m 58 secs starting at 10:15 am

Location: Depoe Bay, Oregon

                    Some unforgettable experiences / trips will be etched in the book of life forever. I would like to share one such experience rather expedition.

                    It was early autumn days , just when the maple leaves are changing colors and the days start getting shorter. I came to know that there was the Total Solar eclipse across the US belt in 2017. Also Seattle was quite close to the path of totality with around 90% coverage visibility.The path of totality also included the pacific north west coast which was closeby to Seattle. I din want to miss this unique chance..a once in a life time opportunity to view this celestial event.

                   Even though I could view it from Seattle with 90% coverage , I wanted to see the total eclipse from Lincoln city, Oregon which was a 3.5 hr drive from Seattle. As usual, not everyone would be interested in such activities so I was trying to check with my friends if any of them would like to join me on this expedition. Luckily one of my friend who was crazy enough like me joined on this trip.

Plan was to drive to Portland Lincoln City in Oregon early morning on Aug 21 , view the eclipse and drive back to Seattle.

                  As it is, there was this mad rush from interested people from all over US to view this event. So the locations along the path of totality were jam packed with visitors. All hotels booked at sky rocketing prices months ahead of the actual event. It included Lincoln city, Salem, Madras etc. You heard it right..there is a Salem, Madras cities in US too😊 like we have in India.

For enthusiasts in science, this was a once in a life time experience, so there was lot of hype and discussions about the event, its effects etc.

Journey: 

                Myself and my friend planned to start early by 1.30 am on Aug 21^st from Bellevue , take the I5 S via Seattle to Lincoln City, Oregon.

We took the day off on Aug 21 and headed out on our trip on time. My friend was driving, so I had my prep work done for the trip with some nice Ginger tea in a flask, some snacks, some breakfast.

                 As per plan, we started from Bellevue and moved along I405 S towards Seattle to join into I5 S. However, as we drove along I5 S the police stalled us as we were speeding a bit than the allowed speed. The police just checked the license, gave a warning since this was the first time, and allowed us to move on. We were fully awake😅 after this incident and were careful in our drive. Since it was early hours we din come across much traffic.

               

                 The drive in itself was very good. While my friend was enjoying his driving, I was relishing the vast clear skies with such beautiful stars spread across the black sky. It was a clear night and I could see the bright milky way spread out across the sky as we drove along the Oregon state highway.

                 We took a coffee break at one of the mall in some unknown destination to fill fuel and take a break. The mall in downtown Tualatin in itself was beautiful. Even though it was early hours the atmosphere was quite good. We then headed out to Lincoln City, Oregon without any further breaks.

                 We reached Lincoln city at around 6 AM, took a coffee break at Star bucks and drove to the coast line as that was the view point. It was all foggy and bit chill autumn morning. But there was no parking spot even though we tried to look around multiple streets near the Lincoln city beach. The place was already crowded with tourists and people visiting to see the eclipse as it was one of the hot spots. So we tried to find alternate spot closeby. On scouting , we found a spot Depoe Bay which was just along the coast line few miles ahead. We decided to drive upto there.

                 Depoe Bay was around 12 miles ahead along the Oregon Coast Highway. Enroute we took a short break along Gleneden Beach to enjoy the foggy view of the coastline.

                 Depoe Bay is a small harbor city, infact it’s the world’s smallest Harbour city. We never knew about these details. Unknowingly we landed up in this small yet charming harbor city. This was also one of the first point along the path of totality. By chance, we were destined to be at this first spot, which was less crowded, but with the best view of the eclipse. I felt so lucky. Life has its own ways of making sure we are at the right place at the right time. 

                  The view along the coastline was foggy yet so stunning in the crisp morning air.The eclipse was to start at around 9.30 am, so we still had a couple of hours. We parked the car, and explored the city on foot. We first went around to find the best viewing spot. 

This city also happened to be a Whale watching center. So we found there were many tour operators taking folks on their boats for whale watching tours. There were special tours organized for viewing the eclipse from the Ocean in a boat.

                  The coastline view was just amazing. The soft swishing of the waves from the ocean touching the rocky shores. The shoreline spreading across the stretch seemed so calm and clean. There were some crazy folks who even went close to the shore and were walking on the rocks even though it was dangerous. I also happened to see the rainbow hidden behind the misty fog.

                We visited the Whale museum which had good information on whales and its specimens, whale catching equipment, anchors used in the harbor etc. Along our walk, i even spotted a whale which was add on advantage to me 😎.We then took a coffee/ breakfast break and it was time for the main show. We took our spot for the viewing.

                 Our view point was a small hill close to the shore. In front of me we had the huge stone bridge with such an amazing backdrop of houses spread our across the hill amidst the pine trees. The boats anchored in a line on the coast. It was very calm and serene. On my back, I could see the coastline with the ocean and boats spread out here and there. Our main artist for the event the sun was shining brightly above the bridge that made me feel happy since the fog cleared out and the view was very clear.

                  At exactly 9.30 AM, the eclipse started. We had to use the special viewing glasses to witness the event.  We saw that the shadow of the moon was slowly moving over the sun covering it bit by bit. However, on my back there was a sudden change in the atmosphere.

Just few minute back the water seemed soft and smooth. But now there were high tides with huge waves gushing forth the shore. The fog suddenly increased along the coast without much visibility. As the eclipse progressed, we could see the orange disk covered by the orb. It was progressing slowly. Another strange thing was , as the coverage % increased, there was a sudden darkness that was spread out and we could see our own shadows in the morning hours which we don’t normally see. Shadows can be seen only after the sun is on peak and as it moves towards sunset.

                   Birds flying in the strong winds without direction, huge tides, frothy rough waves rocking the boats, misty fog covering the coast, shadows in daylight..My My..what an experience.

At the exact moment of total solar eclipse it was an experience beyond words. I din take my phone nor listen to any distractions. I was just gazing at the beautiful sun. The sun was fully covered with only the bright outline of the corona waves glittering on the edges.

                   It was magical and cannot be recreated by anything with such perfection. The event lasted just for a min or so, and there as the moon just left the edge, I saw the Diamond ring effect. Just a small blob of pure light glowing on a ring of fire. That point was indeed the most beautiful part of this celestial drama. I was just stunned at the view that I din even blink my eye I guess. This whole two minutes I was just watching with so much excitement, calmness, surprise, interesting mix of feelings.

                      Many of the folks were taking pictures, videos. But I was just staying in the moment. I know the videos would’ve been cool but I wanted to enjoy the actual moment.

Slowly the moon’ shadow started to move out revealing the sun’s surface again. I turned back towards the coast and I saw that the water started to get calmer and slowly receding to its normal self. The atmosphere started to lighten up and became brighter. I was so much under impact of this experience that I din even say a word for 5 minutes..i was speechless. Even though my friend remarked something I din say a word in response. Indeed that was one of the most unforgettable moment in my life.

                      After I recovered, I found that we were all talking sharing our experiences with other viewers irrespective from where you came from. It was a good gesture and I felt that people are same wherever you are, we just think they are different in other countries unless we see it for ourselves.By 11 AM, the eclipse was almost over and so we started our journey back to Seattle. Also, we were aware of the mad rush and traffic we would have to face on our way back as I5 N was the only high way connecting back to other cities.

                       As expected, all the visitors were now rushing back to get back to their homes. The traffic was huge. There was a delay of 3 hrs on I5 N. Therefore, we decided to take the smaller highways running in parallel to the I5 to make some progress at least. It took a bit longer, but atleast we din get stuck on the highway just standing still and waiting for the traffic to move.

                      That in itself was another adventurous road trip, as we had to drive into the countryside and I got to see the locals of Oregon with the farm land and equipments used, the barns etc which we would’nt normally explore. The lush green fields and countryside small roads were so different from the posh highways and malls. It took longer and we finally reached home at around 7.30 pm.

A 4 hrs drive turning into a 7 hrs drive and that too nonstop. That in itself was an adventure for us to get back home. Nevertheless, it was one of the most amazing and excitement filled trip.

                      In all of this I must say that my friend was driving all along nonstop without fretting or getting irritated which I appreciate very much 😎. Also, thanks to my friend for joining me on this journey and I hope it was every bit worth it.

                     Overall it was an expedition that I would cherish forever and ever as this is a once in a life time chance and I’m glad that I took it and had one of the most unforgettable experience of my life.

This blog has been long due and I finally thought of finishing it on the event of another solar eclipse😊.

Until the next adventure…take care .Ciao

-       Nirmala