Pomerleau Family Blog: Total Eclipse in Corvallis

We woke up the Monday of the Eclipse in Corvallis. We had to hurry because the Eclipse began at around 9:15 AM as it slowly became covered by the moon over a span of about an hour until it was covered completely by around 10:18 AM. We ate a quick breakfast and headed over to Walnut Park with our glasses, blankets, and toys and coloring books for Olivia. Brandon and CiCi had been studying the timeline of the Eclipse and reading about it. CiCi remembered my Grandma Choo-Choo saw a total Eclipse in her lifetime and told her about it. We were one of the few places in the world that could see the Eclipse in Totality. Where we lived in Portland we would have seen about 98-99% of the Totality but would have had to keep our Eclipse Glasses on the entire time. Brandon especially was super excited to see the complete Totality. He kept saying that “this was the best day of his entire life.”

My parents had scoped out the best spot to watch the Eclipse. They were fearful that most of Corvallis might be crazy so they decided to find a place near their house (so they could walk if they had to). What made it especially awesome was Walnut Park is a special place close to my childhood home as well that I spent much of my youth at playing softball, learning to ride my bike, and walking both Callie and Pumpkin. We went up to the fields of Walnut Park where there was just beautiful golden fields and no trees and where we could have a good view of the Total Eclipse.

It was super neat to slowly watch the Eclipse happen. It happened gradually over almost an hour. The sky slowly darkened as the moon began to slowly cover the sun. We had to wear our Eclipse Glasses at all times when staring at the sun. It was amazing! As we got closer to Totality, the outdoor air around us started to get cooler and it appeared that the animals and the bugs around us got quieter. Pumpkin got a bit quiet and just hung around us quietly. When Totality hit, we were allowed to take our Eclipse Glasses and stare straight at the sun as it was completely covered by the moon and it was safe to look at. The Totality lasted for 1 minute 30 seconds. Then when it was over we had to put our Eclipse glasses back and watch the sun slowly come back out. Afterwards we headed back to my parents’ house and had a yummy brunch and mimosas. I worked from my parents’ house for several hours and we waited for traffic to die down and then headed home in the late afternoon. We ate a yummy dinner at a little Pizza place in Monmouth on our way home and then made it home and to bed. It was definitely a whirl wind weekend with camping and then heading down to Corvallis for the Eclipse but we were glad we did it. It was so amazing to see in person!