Solar Eclipse 2017

A few months ago, my friend Caroline suggested we make a day of the solar eclipse since Nashville would experience about 2 minutes of totality. So we planned the day off work, bought our glasses, planned a picnic and waited for the day to arrive. As we were looking for a place to go, we wanted someplace not quite as crowded, had an air conditioned bathroom, and someplace we could bring our camping chairs and coolers.

After a lot of searching, we decided to spend the day at the Lane Motor Museum. Bonus, the guys could look at cars for a couple of hours.

We got to the museum at 8, which was a couple of hours before they opened, and set up our chairs, coolers and umbrellas. At about 9:00, the sun was high enough in the sky that there wasn't much shade, so I broke out my umbrella and handheld fan.

The museum opened at 10, we went in and went to the bathroom and the guys walked through the exhibits. I stayed with our stuff and read a little bit. It was kind of hard to concentrate because it was pretty hot...actually it was the hottest day of the year so far in Nashville! The guys came out around 11:15 and had a snack.

The eclipse started at 11:58 and we basically just looked up every 5ish minutes until it started to cool down...which was when the moon was about halfway over the sun.

It started to get dark but it was a different kind of dark than twilight or a cloudy day. The shadows were odd. The crickets started chirping. The temperature was dropping quickly to the point it was comfortable outside.

When it got more comfortable, everyone decided to break out their picnics so we joined in. We were able to snag some Darkest Hour soda from Excel Bottling Company in Breese, IL to enjoy with our sandwiches.

As we got closer to totality, we got clouds! So we missed the beginning of the total eclipse. But we got to really take in the 360 sunset and the odd color night sky. We saw stars and the shadows were really crazy. Someone set off fireworks! Chris kissed me under the total eclipse too!

About 45 seconds before the total eclipse ended, the clouds moved! We got to see the corona and the bailey's beads. The education director gave us a 10 second warning to get our glasses on so we could see the diamond ring effect which was amazing.

As the moon continued to move over the sun, we stayed and watched more, until we were the last ones out watching.

We packed up about an hour after the total eclipse, went to the bathroom and the guys wanted to see the outdoor cars, so I sat in the air conditioned car while they looked and then we headed home.

It was so incredible. We are absolutely chasing the 2024 eclipse.

Thank you so much Lane Motor Museum! We loved our Solar Eclipse Day with you!