Eclipse Experience

Although it stayed cloudy in Austin for the most part, we got the occasional peek at the sun during the eclipse including at 90% coverage. Nothing had prepared me for the totality, and it was definitely eerily darker than a cloudy date. The solar-powered street lamps and our landscaping lights turned on. The bird's chatter increased as it got closer to totality, but everything was silent for those two minutes. I literally got goosebumps from this effect on our world due to a rare celestial event.

We listened to our local NPR radio before the event as they reported from around town, including outside an elementary school. You could hear the kids cheering in the background whenever the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, something you would not see or hear in Texas any other day. Thankfully, the radio went silent for the full duration of totality.

I wish it were a bright and sunny day so the contrast of a dark day would've been even more stark but I still enjoyed my first total solar eclipse. I wasn't even trying to take pictures but simply enjoying being in the moment.