A vacation 3 years in the making. Camping reservations one year out. A long weekend culminating with the Great America Eclipse of 2017. As it turns out, an unobstructed view of totality eluded us.
Years ago my son asked when would be the next time we could see a solar eclipse near us. After doing a web search and determining our next best chance would be in 2017, I put the date of August 21, 2017, on my google calendar. Over the next few years, I researched the path of totality. I hoped to find some place where our entire family, who would include mid and late teen children, could enjoy a vacation as well as experience a total eclipse. I settled on Charleston, SC as our destination. I would hope that this would provide us beach time, historical sites to tour. At first, I wanted to rent a beach house, but realized, along with Gina, that camping would be one-quarter or less the cost than renting a house. I looked for camping sites near Charleston and made the decision to camp at Edisto Beach State Park. We decided on some historical sites to visit and had our vacation planned. Below you will see how that adventure played out over the course the five days planned around the eclipse.
We had planned to spend Saturday in the city of Charleston. We had all the kids do an online survey of attractions they would most like to experience. The winner was a haunted jail tour slated for that night at 9 p.m. Before that though, we went to the Charleston Museum. We purchased a family membership, as it was less expensive that purchasing individual admission to the museum. That day NASA was doing presentations about the upcoming eclipse. All but two of our party went to one of the presentations. They NASA educators played a kahoot game on our phones. A few questions about the eclipse that everyone with a smartphone could participate. One of our kids took an early lead after the first question. However, I was second and would over take him on the penultimate question. However, I got the last question wrong, thinking the next total eclipse over the US was in August, not April of 2024. Alas, he won and was awarded an enameled NASA pin. After the presentation, we toured the remainder of the museum and even one of the houses owned by the museum. The highlight of the day though would be our tour of The Old City Jail. We were told some of the history of the property and building and of some of the inmates. Experiences were recounted by the tour guide of things that he had seen, heard, and felt while working there and even before he was an employee of the tour group. After a long day in the city we returned to the camp site and settled in for the night. I am not sure if it was cooler that night or we were becoming acclimated to the environment, but I was not as hot and dripping with sweat as the previous night.
Years ago my son asked when would be the next time we could see a solar eclipse near us. After doing a web search and determining our next best chance would be in 2017, I put the date of August 21, 2017, on my google calendar. Over the next few years, I researched the path of totality. I hoped to find some place where our entire family, who would include mid and late teen children, could enjoy a vacation as well as experience a total eclipse. I settled on Charleston, SC as our destination. I would hope that this would provide us beach time, historical sites to tour. At first, I wanted to rent a beach house, but realized, along with Gina, that camping would be one-quarter or less the cost than renting a house. I looked for camping sites near Charleston and made the decision to camp at Edisto Beach State Park. We decided on some historical sites to visit and had our vacation planned. Below you will see how that adventure played out over the course the five days planned around the eclipse.
Friday
We packed some things in the car-top carrier the night before and finished packing the car that morning. We drove to pick up one more guest, our oldest son's girlfriend, to join us for the trip. We were all settled in the car which was loaded more than any of us would like. The driver obviously had the best seat in the van as there was room to sit. Everyone else was cramped and had gear either on their lap, at their feet, or both. The drive was uneventful all the way to the campground.
We arrived in mid afternoon and set up our camp, which I would soon call our "tent city." We had six tents to accommodate seven people. We drove around Edisto Island and found a place to eat dinner. After dinner, we took a brief walk on the beach and then returned to our campsite. I knew that the low country would be hot and humid, but I was fully not prepared for the weather conditions we would experience. I took a cold shower before going to bed in an attempt to cool myself down. Once in the tent, I was sweating profusely. Sweat was covering my entire body and dripping down. The humidity didn't allow the sweat to evaporate. This may be a little bit too much information, but I feel it is important you know the situation. I grew up in the south, on the coast, in Wilmington, NC. I thought I was accustomed to the heat and humidity. Even I was taken aback by the weather we experienced during this trip. This was just the first of four nights planned. Eventually, I was able to fall asleep.
Saturday
As we were driving out of the campground a park ranger stopped us to question us about our campsite. As it turnsd out, our "tent city" was against their rules. We were only allowed two tents per site. We inquired about getting another campsite and actually purchased another site for the remaining three days. However, this site was too far from the other site, and none of the kids wanted to be that far away. So we came up with a plan. Two kids would the big tent with Gina and myself. Two kids would be in the next largedt tent by themselves, while NASA pin winner would sleep in the van. So we went back to our site, broke down tents and dripped sweat in the early morning swampy atmosphere.
We had planned to spend Saturday in the city of Charleston. We had all the kids do an online survey of attractions they would most like to experience. The winner was a haunted jail tour slated for that night at 9 p.m. Before that though, we went to the Charleston Museum. We purchased a family membership, as it was less expensive that purchasing individual admission to the museum. That day NASA was doing presentations about the upcoming eclipse. All but two of our party went to one of the presentations. They NASA educators played a kahoot game on our phones. A few questions about the eclipse that everyone with a smartphone could participate. One of our kids took an early lead after the first question. However, I was second and would over take him on the penultimate question. However, I got the last question wrong, thinking the next total eclipse over the US was in August, not April of 2024. Alas, he won and was awarded an enameled NASA pin. After the presentation, we toured the remainder of the museum and even one of the houses owned by the museum. The highlight of the day though would be our tour of The Old City Jail. We were told some of the history of the property and building and of some of the inmates. Experiences were recounted by the tour guide of things that he had seen, heard, and felt while working there and even before he was an employee of the tour group. After a long day in the city we returned to the camp site and settled in for the night. I am not sure if it was cooler that night or we were becoming acclimated to the environment, but I was not as hot and dripping with sweat as the previous night.Sunday
I had anticipated this to be a more relaxing day, most time spent at the beach, playing in the water. However, nobody seemed to care too much about doing that. Besides, we could easily take a day trip to Wilmington to go to the beach. A lot of the local museums and other attractions were closed for the day in the area. The NASA pin winner suggested we go to Savannah, GA. After a little consideration and research, we decided it would be worth a two-hour drive there and back to experience something different. We only spent a little time downtown and looked at a couple of the squares and monuments, but I could tell this is something I would like to spend more time exploring with Gina at a later date. We went to Oatland Wildlife Center. Apparently, we had not spent enough time walking around outside in the heat and humidity. We returned to downtown Savannah to take a ferry ride. This free ride takes you across the river to allow passengers to see the riverfront from a different perspective. We returned to our campsite and for the first time, made a campfire and s'mores. This night, after consulting the weather forecast, we took off the rain fly's from the tents in an effort to stay even cooler than the night before. It helped, but a short shower came out of nowhere which forced us to wake up and cover the tent int he dark.
Monday
This was the big day. The entire reason for the trip. The first time in 38 years an eclipse was visible in the USA. The first time in 99 years that one would cross the continent. The next time this will happen is 2045.
After two nights of sleeping in the more cramped quarters and one kid in the car, we decided to forgo the last night of camping and leave after the eclipse. So we broke camp, packed everyone and everything int he car. We adjusted the packing so that we could get to our chairs and pop-up shade once we arrived at our eclipse viewing destination.
We had settled on going to Moncks Corner, SC to be closer to the center of the path of totality. The town was hosting an event at one of their parks and we thought it looked like a nice event to attend. We arrived early and set up our shade and chairs. The sky was full of cumulus clouds and I was worried about the possibility of being unable to see anything. As the eclipse started, there were plenty of breaks in the clouds. The sun was visible and we could see first contact. However, about thirty minutes before totality, a thunderstorm came in and blocked our view of the sun. This was what I was most worried about and the reason why I had always planned to make this a weekend trip and not just about the day of the eclipse. I wanted this to be memorable regardless of the eclipse. Everyone around was disappointed, as was I. To see the sky go dark and the clouds on the horizon change shade, the gnats, as annoying as they were, come out when it started to get dark, was a fascinating experience none the less. Of course, I would have preferred cloudless skies, to see the corona, shadow bands, bailey's beads and the diamond ring effect. It was just not meant to be this time. Hopefully, in 2024 I will have better luck.
We had settled on going to Moncks Corner, SC to be closer to the center of the path of totality. The town was hosting an event at one of their parks and we thought it looked like a nice event to attend. We arrived early and set up our shade and chairs. The sky was full of cumulus clouds and I was worried about the possibility of being unable to see anything. As the eclipse started, there were plenty of breaks in the clouds. The sun was visible and we could see first contact. However, about thirty minutes before totality, a thunderstorm came in and blocked our view of the sun. This was what I was most worried about and the reason why I had always planned to make this a weekend trip and not just about the day of the eclipse. I wanted this to be memorable regardless of the eclipse. Everyone around was disappointed, as was I. To see the sky go dark and the clouds on the horizon change shade, the gnats, as annoying as they were, come out when it started to get dark, was a fascinating experience none the less. Of course, I would have preferred cloudless skies, to see the corona, shadow bands, bailey's beads and the diamond ring effect. It was just not meant to be this time. Hopefully, in 2024 I will have better luck.
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