Solar Eclipse on august 21, 2017 (Pocatello, Idaho Falls: hotels, wedding, live in)

[banjomike]

Called a friend today. He had just returned to Idaho Falls from a cruise up by Salmon, and he said US 93 was bumper to bumper in the north lane, but clear in the south lane.

I think that in SE Idaho, where there are only 2 Interstates to get folks into the totality zone, all the 2-lanes will fill up like this. But they will all begin to go back to normal by next Wednesday, I'm sure.

Around Idaho Falls, most of the town traffic is normal tonight, at least in the areas I drove around in. But on occasions like this, it's better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. There was a big rush on groceries and other supplies earlier in the week, but the stores have all re-stocked now.

[echo7tango]

Originally Posted by shades_of_idaho

Considering other areas and I will say so far things are pretty quiet here in Midvale. echo7tango and his wife stopped by on their was. all is good with them too. Roads are open and running pretty clear. Shhhhhh do not tell any one. LOL

Yes we had a very pleasant visit with shades_of_idaho on our way north to McCall and we are looking forward to enjoying Eclipse Day with her!

Today we drove across the path of totality, from south to north on US-95, and all looked quiet -- no crazy crowds, no mobbed fields full of RVs and tents. As shades said. There were a few signs advertising eclipse parking, and a few early campers were out in fields in tents / RVs / trailers, but so far so good. Pretty quiet. Promising, so far...

We're about 36 hours away from the eclipse!

[volosong]

I'm just going to stick around here. vox.com says that there will be a 89.6% obstruction in Rathdrum. Would have to drive over 200 miles south to get totality. A neighbor had an extra pair of glasses, so we're just going to have a "End of the World" party.

[EvilEyeFleegle]

97% here..begun about 10 min ago. I guess I could have driven to Sun Valley, but for 3%--meh.

A lot of businesses in the Sun Valley area are saying that sales under-performed..about like a holiday weekend, no more.

[volosong]

Glad I didn't drive south 200 miles. It was "okay". Temperature dropped about 5-10 degrees, and it was kinda cool watching the phases. Didn't really get dark. Just like if there were some clouds in front of the sun. To me at least, certainly not worth the hassle of fighting traffic and all the associated inconveniences to see the totality.

[Cnynrat]

I was busy out in the woods this morning and forgot to take the time to notice. Completely missed it, so it was really not very apparent unless you were looking for it.

Dave

[shades_of_idaho]

Had a Great time with Echo7tango and his wife and friend. It was pretty exciting to be able to share it with them. We all took some good shots . It was pretty dark here during the total eclipse. I tried to just take a photo across the yard and only got blacked out screen. So too dark to capture any photo at all. the temp dropped about 12 degrees from start to totality. Listening to the sheriff scanner now most of the people have cleared out and the highway up here is thinning out as far as traffic goes.

All in all I think the turn out was nothing like expected. Which is always fine with me but I believe there are some vendors disappointed in the turn out. Two nights I enjoyed listening to the music in the park from my front porch.

A couple shots I got with my cheapo camera. Echo7tango took lots of shots with his camera on a tripod so he should have much better shots that I got. the one bird photo is just as the eclipse was ending. They are the Midvale Buzzards and not sure but that one tiny white dot to the left of the sun spot could be a planet. Venus was very visible as the eclipse was starting on the right of the sun and I forget which one this one is.

[blueskywalker]

Cool photos even with a cheapo camera.
I decided to stay in Idaho instead of heading back to CA. I thought the crowds were going to be insane in Blaine County in the days before the eclipse but it wasn't bad at all although today i wasn't sure whether i was going to be able to get back on 75 going south because there was a constant stream of traffic coming down from points north. People show up in stages but everyone leaves at the same time.
I found a nice little spot up one of my favorite canyons and sat by the river with my dog. There were no people around .... just me and my dog.
It was wonderful but it was over so quickly. The temps dropped quite a bit ... at least 10 degrees ... maybe more. Not sure. The darkness was something like a full moon night. The best part for me was, during totality, looking above my head and seeing Venus!
Anyway, i think there's a collective let down now ... so much anticipation in the communities that were in the path of totality and now it's over.
Again though, very cool. Beautiful. I'm glad i stayed in Idaho.

[echo7tango]

Originally Posted by shades_of_idaho

Had a Great time with Echo7tango and his wife and friend. It was pretty exciting to be able to share it with them. We all took some good shots . It was pretty dark here during the total eclipse. I tried to just take a photo across the yard and only got blacked out screen. So too dark to capture any photo at all. the temp dropped about 12 degrees from start to totality. Listening to the sheriff scanner now most of the people have cleared out and the highway up here is thinning out as far as traffic goes.

All in all I think the turn out was nothing like expected. Which is always fine with me but I believe there are some vendors disappointed in the turn out. Two nights I enjoyed listening to the music in the park from my front porch.

A couple shots I got with my cheapo camera. Echo7tango took lots of shots with his camera on a tripod so he should have much better shots that I got. the one bird photo is just as the eclipse was ending. They are the Midvale Buzzards and not sure but that one tiny white dot to the left of the sun spot could be a planet. Venus was very visible as the eclipse was starting on the right of the sun and I forget which one this one is.

Seconded! We are grateful for celebrating this event with shades_of_idaho! Mrs. Tango & I, and our friend, enjoyed sharing this eclipse with you! I got a few decent shots and posted them to FB. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll include some here.

What a great day!!

[echo7tango]

Some of my better shots. The eclipse was fantastic!

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