Here is our diary for how we got to experience this adventure. Our household does have two resident scientists and we get excited about astronomy, space exploration, celestial events. So as soon as I learned about the Total Solar Eclipse on Monday August 21, 2017 crossing over the United States, I booked that day as a vacation day. I was not sure what we would do, but I wanted to set aside time for it. Then June 4th came and there was an article on the Sunday paper travel section giving more details about the eclipse. It explained that the path of totality would cover the US but only across a band of 70 miles. It listed the 5 great places to see the eclipse.
I had been in Nashville the year before for a women's retreat and knew Music City had a good vibe and some good eats! We decided Nashville would be our base and with the help Delta miles and AirBnB we got travel and lodging booked. I made some reservations in a couple of places to make sure we got into some hot restaurants in town: Husk and Etch
We kept checking the weather forecast hoping we would be able to see the total eclipse. We got excited when the forecast was looking good! And off we went to experience something special. Neil deGrasse Tyson had gotten us really looking forward to it! In this article he said this about the moment of totality:
...people have described it as “a religious experience” and “better than sex”, so make sure you take off those solar glasses for this part.
We landed in Nashville on Saturday August 19th hungry for lunch. Michael did some research on OpenTable and Urban Grub looked good. It was delicious and hit the spot.
The restaurant had a produce market from their farm across the street! It had tons of peaches from South Carolina and they smelled so good. We did some shopping!
Our address in Nashville was 2312 Elliston Place, apt 110. It was a new building appealing to young profesionals and it seem to rent corporate apartments. Our place was very well appointed, spacious and in a great location.
We went for a walk in our neighborhood. Just a couple blocks away we were at Centennial Park and found the Parthenon! A replica of the one in Greece! Beautiful!
In the evening we went to the Restaurant Etch which was rated #4 in TripAdvisor. I invited a couple who lives in Nashville to join us, Petra Wissemburg and her husband Michel. They are originally from the Netherlands. I met Petra in 2012 when she was a customer of mine working in Quality at Danone Corporate and I was Director for Global Strategic Accounts at 3M Food Safety. She was very nice and we connected at a different level when I learned she had lived in Brazil and spoke Portuguese. She left Danone and I changed positions at 3M. Years later she invited me to be friends in Facebook. I learned she now lived in Nashville and thought it would be fun to catch up. We had a really nice dinner and conversation.
On Sunday morning we took it easy as we would at home. I went to a nearby coffee shop to get us coffee, Atmalogy. What an adorable place! I had a Lavender Latté!
Next it was time for a workout so I could keep eating my way through Music City. The rental had a great gym!
Brunch reservations were at Husk Restaurant from Chef Sean Brock from Charleston, SC. I had had brunch there with my sister Christina the year before and really liked it. It was a beautiful space. And the food was pretty tasty. It delivered again!
Our next destination, and to stay the night, was Hendersonville, TN, 30 mins NE of Nashville.
While on the plane Michael decided he wanted to watch the eclipse closest to the center of the path of totality which would have the total eclipse last the longest time. Nashville would gets less than 2 mins and Hendersonville would get 2 mins 31 secs. We booked a room from the plane! As soon as we arrived we noticed the town was catering to the eclipse seekers. The Hyatt Place hotel had this photo in the lobby:
So where should we watch the eclipse? It was very, very hot in town and the forecast for the next day was fortunately for a sunny day and more 90+ degree weather! We considered spending the day by the pool with cold drinks drinks in hand. The space was not very big and we wondered how packed it would get. And would they turn on lights during totality? We wanted total darkness for full enjoyment and pictures. We went out to explore other options. We found a park at the tip of a peninsula by a body of water that looked looked like a great place. It would probably be dark. We went to scope it out and liked it. We would stop by Walmart to get supplies for a pic nic (chairs, something to keep drinks cool, a blanket, some snacks) and arrive early to secure a shady spot. In the evening Michael practiced taking pictures of the stars by the pool.
Monday, Aug 21, 2017 is here!
And a nice sunshiny day it was! We enjoyed a hot breakfast, compliments of the hotel, together with many who seemed to be there for the same reason. We wondered where they would watch the eclipse. Were they all going to come to our park? We got to Sanders's Ferry Park by 9:15 am and very few people were there. We got a great spot by the water and under a tree with nice shade. Now all we had to do was wait until 1:28 for what we came for: totality!
The moon was taking over the sun and the time was approaching!!
Moments before totality all we could do was look up. Here is how it went...
And then the moment came... Surreal, amazing! Words and photos and videos will never do it justice! If you ever have a chance to see a total solar eclipse, jump on it! It is a few moments of total 'Wow'! Even when there was a sliver of the sun it was dimmer but bright out. But when the sun is fully covered by the moon, it's an experience that is hard to describe. We will be chasing after another one in the future for sure!!! And the clouds almost ruined it for us, but they didn't!! Yuppie!! 🌚
Capturing the emotions of these absolutely amazing moments in the video below. I tried to point to the moon covering the sun during this footage but without a good dynamic range I just could not do it justice. I leave you with the sounds of the people watching it, the lighting at the horizon and a few images of the moon/sun and stars in the middle of the day! The end of this experience has a big smile from Michael!
And now back out of totality and the clouds started rolling in... we got so lucky with the timing!
The afternoon after watching the total eclipse in Hendersonville, we headed back to Nashville, cooled off by enjoying a delicious sweet, cold, local watermelon and hung out by the pool remembering the incredible sites from earlier in the day. In the evening went to check out Le Sel Restaurant, a cool space by local restauranteurs, and got tickets to listen to excellent local singer/song writers/guitarists at The Listening Room Cafe. What a day!
Aug 22, 2017: Final Nashville Report - our last day here... we went to check out the Nashville Farmer's Market and nabbed some peaches to take back home. They smelled so good! We consumed some already this trip. The market had a food court area with good eats from around the world. We had BBQ and local beer (I chose the Mantra!). The brisket was so good!
We walked off part of lunch at Bicentennial Park. It was set up to describe historical events for every decade for the 200 yr history of Tennessee (1796-1996). It had a huge map of Tennessee at the end of it. I pointed out where we watched the eclipse yesterday.
And lastly, I share the t-shirts I never bought... I will remember where I was there for the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse for the rest of my life! Good-bye and thank you, Nashville and Hendersonville!
Credits:
Michael Haase and Alessandra Chiareli