Months of anxiety of whether we would have a clear day for the 2017 Eclipse are over.  It was a spectacularly beautiful day.  Our cousins Clint & Marie Case and their daughter Annette were here yesterday for lunch and brought some squares of “welder’s” glass to add to the glasses we already had. 

Joel & Elaine’s son Marcus and friend Bae flew in Saturday Eve from Santa Fe, and Tom extended his stay on Kaufman Road for the big event. 

Tom, Bae and Marcus' first glimpse of the sun through solar glasses.

We set up a viewing area in the back yard and the position of the sun was perfect for viewing.  A lot of time was consumed attempting to get the best pictures with phones and cameras through the darkened glass. 

Tom, Joel, Bae and Marcus

Elaine tried on Marcus' welder's goggles.

Marcus and Bae taking pictures using a solar photo filter

The moment of totality was fleeting, but spectacular.  It was noticeably cooler and the darkness equated to deep twilight.  For a few moments, we could remove our dark lenses and gaze in awe.  Unlike Oregon’s last eclipse in 1979 happened on a cloudy winter day.

This was what it looked like outside when the sun was completely obscured.

We learned from Facebook that a contingent of Canbyites came out to Smyrna Church’s parking (directly across the field from us) to be in the path of totality.  Also posted was a picture of the bumper-to-bumper traffic jam through Yoder as people returned parts to the north.  

Click here to see the people who came out to Smyrna, click on this link: Eclipse at Smyrna.  ("Thanks" to Kathy!)

Even Yoder, Oregon can have a traffic jam! ("Thanks" to Leo)

Getting our sun back.

Just to be on the safe side, Marcus and Tom wore solar glasses to look at the photos of the eclipse!