Introduction
Last year Sam approached Rita and said “There’s a solar eclipse happening on April 8, 2024. We have to go.” Rita nodded along, while Sam booked a night in Niagara Falls. As we got closer, Rita asked Sam to consider other closer places in the path of totality, but things had gotten much more expensive and booked and we stuck with Niagara. In March, Sam purchased special glasses for the eclipse and we planned our trip. Man plans and God laughs, because although we did end up in Niagara, we traveled to Cleveland to see the total eclipse.
We decided to take the boys (6 and 8) but leave the girls (3 and 1). Shelly was the wildcard, but it was a lot of driving and we were scared she wouldn’t be old enough to appreciate it or be safe with the glasses.
Day 1 – Niagara Falls
Right after Shabbat we headed upstate with Allen and Joseph for the first leg of our trip. After 5 hours, we stopped overnight in Rochester to break up the drive. The next morning we continued to the Niagara Falls State Park on the US side. We parked on Goat Island and walked to the viewpoints. There we saw beautiful views of the Falls, did a short walk by Cave of the Winds and got soaked on the Maid of the Mist boat tour, which took us straight up to the falls. (Maid of the Mist was an amazing experience; Cave of the Winds was not necessary.)
We then crossed into Canada (don’t forget your passports!) and saw the falls from that side too. The Canadian side had a nicer view of the falls. (They also have the same boat ride from the Canadian side.) We walked around the touristy kitchy area and the kids convinced us to get tickets to Ripley’s Believe It or Not ! where we saw some unusual things.
The entire 24 hours Sam is sweating with anxiety about the impending eclipse and whether we would see it in Niagara or be covered in clouds.
Day 2 – Eclipse
A total solar eclipse occurs when there’s a syzygy of the Earth, moon and sun, so that the moon blocks the sun. In certain parts of America, the moon would completely cover the sun, creating a total eclipse. This is called the path of totality. NYC had about an 90% partial eclipse. Niagara was in the path of totality. However, the view was threatened by a chance of clouds. Sam became an expert meteorologist and assessed the situation with a bunch of different apps and cloud maps. We decided Monday morning that our best bet was to drive towards Cleveland and adjust as we go to try and find a break in the clouds. We were being warned that there would be traffic, and the normally 3.5 hour trip could take double. In the end, we hit absolutely no traffic, and the plan was to drive as far as possible to pass the cloud cover completely.
As we traveled the 3.5 hour ride, it seemed like we had made a good decision as we first saw some rain as expected, and then the sky completely cleared and it was sunny! At that point we considered where we’d like to watch from. We decided to see the eclipse in Cuyahoga National Park, which allowed us to visit our 15th national park. We called ahead and spoke to a ranger who gave us practical parking and viewing information. After a short walk, we spread our picnic blanket by Kendall Lake and settled in to watch the eclipse. There were about 150 people watching in our area. At 1:59 PM, the partial eclipse began and using our eclipse glasses, we were able to see the moon slowly cover more and more of the sun. At this point it still seemed relatively normal. You could only tell that there was an eclipse if you looked directly at the sun. This changed instantly at 3:13 PM, when our 3.5 minutes of totality began. It became dark like nightfall and several animals began to make noise. At this point we removed our glasses and saw the corona of the sun. The moon completely blocked the sun and for 3.5 minutes we had an extraordinarily insane experience. It is hard to describe, but we highly recommend it. As soon as totality was over and a small sliver of sun appeared, the Earth instantly brightened and once again it seemed like a normal day. We packed up our things and walked out marveling at the surreal experience.
Notes for the future – get an eclipse shirt! The kids did get cool eclipse badges from the junior ranger program in the park.
Because of this unexpected detour, we wound up eating dinner at Mendy’s KC, which came highly recommended by Dan’s Deals. It did not disappoint. We then began the 4 hours drive back to Rochester, as we were unable to modify our hotel reservation.
Day 3 – Seneca Falls
On Tuesday morning we headed to Seneca Falls, where the Declaration of Sentiments was signed in 1848. This marked the official beginning of the women’s rights movement, especially suffrage. It was very cool to learn more about this and see where the meeting was held. The kids became Junior Rangers! We then headed to Harriet Tubman’s house, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Unfortunately, the site was not so built up and we didn’t get to learn so much. We wanted to stop at Glen Watkins State Park, but it was still closed for the season, so we began the 5 hour drive home. Overall, we spent about 20 hours in car driving 1,250 miles, but it was definitely worth it! It was a trip we will never forget!
