It is ‘Shadow Feast’ time!

August summer holidays are getting exciting as soon it is the day of the Great American Solar Eclipse. Have you decided where you will be for the weekend and Monday August 21? Are you on the hunt for the eclipse sweet spot if you are lucky enough to be in or near the Total Eclipse zone, or are you planning to drive to the best location event in the Totality zone?  

This remarkable event of 2017, happens on Monday, August 21 when the moon’s shadow brings about the Total Eclipse of the sun tracking across the USA. Everyone will have a chance to experience something to remember for the rest of their lives. The last total solar eclipse from coast to coast of US happened on June 8, 1918, but unbelievably the next one will be in just seven years from now!

The lucky people on the 70-mile-wide total eclipse viewing line which tracks from west to east, through from the Pacific to the Atlantic, will experience up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds of total eclipse. In those precious minutes, given clear weather and using your eclipse glasses or telescopes, you might see the magical corona effect around the sun, and feel that awe-inspiring moment when deep twilight falls in the middle of the day and hear the birds fall silent.

When and where to experience the 2017 Solar Eclipse

The best information tells us that the eclipse will begin over the Pacific Ocean at 8:46 am Pacific Time, and that Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon will be the first location on the continent to experience totality, followed by Lincoln City, Oregon, where the eclipse will reach its maximum point here at 10:17 am. From Oregon, the path will cross 12 states to South Carolina, traveling 2,500 miles across the United States of America, before it moves out across the Atlantic Ocean almost to Western Europe!

Surely, we will get a song out of Nashville for this momentous day, when the city and state names just roll off the tongue in the order of a great road trip: from Oregon to Boise, Idaho, Wyoming, Lincoln City, Nebraska, Kansas City, Columbia, Missouri, over St. Louis, then across the southern end of Illinois, arcing over Tennessee including Nashville, past western North Carolina to South Carolina ending at Charleston.

The neighboring States will not miss out just because they are not in the sweet spots, as everyone else in the US will see anything from 95% to 60% of the eclipse, and even most of Canada will see some 40% eclipse. So don’t feel left out California! If you move up to Napa Valley for a wine while you take it all in, you will still see around of the 75% eclipse shadow!

Speaking of wine, let’s make a grand occasion out of it! Call your friends and family and get into enjoying a Shadow Feast wherever you are.

Organize the picnic breakfast, brunch, or afternoon grill party to fit your time zone and decide how and where you are going to enjoy the experience. You may be aiming for a park, a spot on a hill, or to join an organized event. The important thing is to get those special Eclipse glasses, your favorite easy snacks and picnic dishes packed, the drinks chilling, the wine opener, all the lawn chairs and rugs you need, and charged up phones and tablets to follow the Eclipse with the Apps. Will you follow the real Eclipse enthusiasts’ advice to have a tent, camping gear at ready and be ready to drive to catch clear skies, or relax and enjoy the company and the fun?

May we also suggest music to relax by as you wait, entertainment for adults and kids, and our special touch – the outdoor Napa Valley or Slice of Summer themed wine glass charms for your drinks, because who knows what glass everyone will grab in the excitement!

We would love to know what you do for this unique holiday party!

Tips and Links to follow:

NASA will be streaming the eclipse live from Carbondale (IL), one of the designated sweet spots within the path of totality. http://www.carbondaleeclipse.com/

http://eclipse.siu.edu/

http://www.carbondaleeclipse.com/

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/overlap.htm

http://nationaleclipse.com/events.html

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/

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