When my wife and I found out that there would be a total solar eclipse in Oregon, we just had to plan our summer trip to the Pacific Northwest around this event. As luck would have it, my in-laws' house in Silverton, Oregon sits in the middle of the fifty-mile-wide path of totality.
We arrived a number of days before the event, which was a good thing, as millions of people converged upon the path across Oregon. The little town of Silverton and the surrounding areas were slammed with eclipse fan traffic. But we had a great view from the comfort of our own front yard, including some friends and neighbors with coffee, donuts and of course, plenty of solar glasses to go around.
I set up my camera on the tripod, checked my settings and prepared for the show. I was mainly interested in getting photos of totality and the flowing corona streaming around the sun, but needed to point the camera at the sun beforehand to get the exposure and focus. I did not want to invest in a solar filter, so I ended up taping my solar glasses to the lens so that my camera sensor did not get fried from the direct sun.
As the moon started passing in front of the sun, we really couldn't see much of a difference. As a matter of fact, the brightness of the sun didn't change much until well after half coverage.
When the sun was about 95% covered, the light started fading quickly. Within a few seconds, day turned to night. As I peeled off the solar glasses, I looked up to see nighttime stars and what looked like a black hole in the sky for a minute and eighteen seconds. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees.
At the moment the moon starts to uncover the sun, a bright flash of light appears through the mountain valleys on the edge of the moon known as the "Diamond Ring."
Once it was over, I heard comments such as "it was like a dream," spiritual" and "a powerful feeling." We all agreed that it was an awe inspiring experience that we would appreciate forever.