The Solar Eclipse of 2017

I never bought into the hype surrounding the eclipse. I love astronomy, and give me a new picture of Saturn any old day, but an eclipse? The moon passing in front of our view of the sun might be great if you're starring in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, but here in 2017? Eh.

Still, in the end it was a hoot to see.

The day before I'd taken Smiley and Ginger to a science and surplus store where they made free eclipse viewers.

When it came time for the eclipse, we headed back to the store, which was holding a get together in the parking lot to celebrate the event. My friend Tre and my Godson met us there.

There was heavy cloud cover, and save for a few minutes the homemade kits didn't work.

Thankfully, one of the store clerks slipped me a pair of (sold out) eclipse glasses during a handshake, and so we got to see some of the show.

We didn't get any good pics of the eclipse, as you'd expect. But in person, it was genuinely kind of neat; certainly more impactful than seeing it on TV or in a book.

It was  a good memory to make with the kids, and I'm glad I experienced it with them.