Buffalo NY just happened to be in the "line of totality" for this eclipse. I spent the day, relaxing in the backyard.
I pulled out some old furniture from the garage and played a little cigar box slide while the moon started to block the sun.
It was a nice warm day in the 60s. That last couple days have been blues skies and sunshine around here. Unfortunately, not today. The sky was covered with clouds. Occasionally the sun would peak through.
The sun peaked in and out of the clouds all afternoon. There was a brief break for like 2 minutes exactly at the point of totality. I was so excited I forgot to snap a picture. It happened quick, nobody was expecting the sun to peak out at that exact moment. It looked really cool too! I wish I would have gotten that shot.
It was pretty cool though, the entire neighborhood started to cheer when the sun peaked out at that moment and everything was covered in an eerie darkness.
Sitting out in the yard was reminiscent of the 1990s. All the neighbors were out. The sounds of kids playing filled the air. People sat on their porches and talked to each other. I swear to god, it was a huge throwback to another time.
When the sun peaked back out, I decided to take a ride on my motorcycle. I wanted to see if their was grid-locked traffic or any issues anywhere.
I drove past three different parks and all of them were full of people. There was no grid-locked traffic, no emergency, just people in the park having fun and out on their porches and front lawns
I did notice several border patrol and police boats in the water. Were they expecting a flood of migrants to come over from Canada taking advantage of the darkness of the eclipse? LOL, wtf, seriously...
I'm not going to get all political, I will say this. Why is everything a crisis or an emergency to the government lately? They actually declared a state of emergency for this. Not to mention, all the money that was spent because they turned it into an emergency situation. Trillions of dollars in debt, and these people never waste an opportunity to waste a little more of our money. Just saying....
All in all, it was a nice experience. Glad I got to enjoy it from the comfort of my backyard. Honestly though, if they didn't hype up all the travel advisories, I probably would have hopped on the bike and rode to some place with better visibility. I heard they had clear skies in Erie Pa, and that's only an hour and a half away.
I think that's the downside of "everything's a crisis or emergency." Eventually people will start dismissing it as nonsense, and that's when things get really dangerous. Like the little boy that cried wolf, nobody will believe them.
Were you in the line of totality? Anything to report from your local? Any issues? Did government officials try to make it out to be more than it was? I'm really curious.