Mama and I drove to Turner, Oregon on the line of totality for the eclipse. Our friends Rachael, Hayes, Paloma and Anika rented a house on a farm, and we camped in the backyard. We went hiking the day before along the Willamette River and picked blackberries to decorate our Eclipse Cake that we ate for breakfast before the eclipse on August 21, 2017. Here is my report from that day!

The sun was bright up in the sky showing no sign that it would go black in an hour. While the other kids were visiting Shiloh the horse, I was looking at a clock screaming out the minutes till the eclipse. 10 minutes! 5 minutes! 3 minutes! 2 minutes! 1 minute!  We all slipped on our glasses and looked up at the bright sun.  The glasses blocked most of the light.  We waited 5 Seconds. 10? I lost count because at that moment I shouted, “There it is!”  And there it was — a sliver of black covering the sun. The sliver became a lump and we could all see it.

Over the next half hour or so, the sun blackened and soon we only had a few more minutes until totality.  I took off my glasses to take a look around.  It was darker than when it started.  I swiftly slipped my solar glasses on just in time to see the last sliver of sun disappear behind an inky black moon. I took off my glasses again and peeked up. Totality. My heart stopped. It was by far the most beautiful thing I ever saw. The pitch black moon turned the cheerful sunny day night time black and in a ring around the moon were little pieces of sun.  Right after, Bailey’s Beads were all around, bright like fire. I grabbed my binoculars and looked up. Surrounding the moon were bright pink flames. I honestly didn’t spend too much time looking at them because I was running around screaming like a maniac.

The air had a chill to it and we could see four or five stars shining near the sun. The birds all stopped chirping and Shiloh was whinnying. I turned around and everywhere I looked there was a sunset. The end came too soon. Through a crater in the face of the moon, the sun shot through like a bullet, lighting up the world — the diamond ring. It sparkled like a real diamond. Slowly and slowly the ring disappeared. The eclipse was still going on but my enthusiasm for it wasn’t. We had to pack up and go. I will most likely always remember it. Hope I get to see the next one.

Hint hint, mom