Beautiful show if you could see it
By Lizzie Johnson, Peter Fimrite, Jill Tucker and Kurtis Alexander
Millions of heads turned upward Monday as the moon passed in front of the sun, covering it completely or nearly so in a sight that prompted pilgrimages to the best viewing spots, thrilled schoolkids, ignited social media and bummed out many in the Bay Area who scoured the heavens and saw nothing but fog.
The total eclipse was the first in 99 years to cross the entire country, casting a full moon shadow over a roughly 70-mile-wide path that stretched through 14 states, beginning in Oregon and ending in South Carolina.
“We just saw this beautiful view,” said Bob Harris, 72, a
recent California transplant to Albany, Ore., who was awed by the sudden loss of light and drop in temperature that arrived when the peak of the eclipse hit about 10:15 a.m. “There was a ring of light around the moon, like a diamond ring, and just as the sun started to come out from behind the moon, you saw the diamond.”
But farther south, where a partial eclipse emerged, it was sometimes a different story.
“The eclipse is eclipsed,” said San Francisco resident Will Ruby, 28, who lugged a telescope and a batch of camera gear to the Golden Gate Bridge, only to find that a thick inversion layer had dashed any hope of seeing the celestial fanfare. “It’s still better than going to work in the morning.”
The sky cleared for long enough in parts of the city and in wide swaths of the Bay Area that many thousands of people, rushing to sunny spots in parks and on rooftops, were able to see the moon take its memorable bite of the sun. When the eclipse peaked in the region shortly after 10 a.m., the moon covered about three-fourths of the sun.
Sky-watchers joined long-anticipated astronomy parties and mountaintop gatherings or ducked from their homes or workplaces at the last minute for the once-in-a-generation spectacle. Most donned protective eyewear that became an irresistible draw for social-media selfies.
The Chabot Space & Science Center in the Oakland hills, one of many gathering points, resembled a rock concert as much as a science hall. Children screamed. Adults jockeyed for space outside in the crowded quad. Couples holding hands sprinted out of buildings, abandoning a live feed that was broadcast on big flat-screens for the real deal.
There was pushing and shoving, and a pinhole projector made from a Cheerios box was trampled. Hundreds had been waiting anxiously for a glimpse of the coast-to-coast phenomenon that last occurred in 1918 — and won’t happen again until 2045.
“Cover your eyes right now,” a father urged his son.
“I can’t see anything,” a woman said, elbowing a man to the side.
“Is that the eclipse?” a child hollered.
Professional photographers with fancy filters fired a rapid stream of photos: click, click, click. Volunteers held the flimsy solar sunglasses to their eyes. And then it was gone.
There was similar appreciation at Mira Vista Elementary School in Richmond, where a brief but rousing cheer broke out on the playground when the clouds gave way. Student Miranda Mohr, 8, pulled off her special glasses and declared she had officially seen the eclipse.
“It looked like a red banana in the middle of space,” she said.
Principal Gabriel Chilcott was in the spirit, wearing a sun cos-
tume alongside one of his office staffers, who dressed as the moon.
“I don’t think I would have planned to have the eclipse on the first day” of school, Chilcott said. “But if we’re going to have that, it creates a wonderful moment to bring all the kids out, all the community to experience science in the real world.”
Miles inland, eclipse-chasers sought clearer skies. BART reported an uptick in ridership on eastbound trains and the California Highway Patrol boosted staffing to accommodate a potential rise in traffic. Few problems were reported, though scores of drivers ignored CHP warnings and pulled over on freeway shoulders to look upward.
Others headed to high ground, like 2,460-foot Mount Tamalpais in Marin County or 3,848foot Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County.
Tens of thousands of even more enthusiastic Californians streamed across the Oregon border in pursuit of the path of totality. The cities of Salem, Corvallis and Madras were hot spots, with roads and highways stormed with visitors all weekend and hotels and campgrounds selling out months ago.
In Washington, D.C., where the moon covered about 80 percent of the sun, President Trump took in the eclipse with first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron. Counter to the advice of NASA scientists, the president did what many Americans were inclined to do but resisted for fear of eye damage or even blindness: He looked directly at the sun.