Solar eclipse
I kept Destiny out of school on Monday to drive two hours west so we could be at the center of the total solar eclipse. Camden only experienced about 95% eclipse for just over a minute. We drove to De Queen, where the eclipse was 100% and more than four minutes.
I don't know what some people were expecting to happen, but clearly paranoia was part of it. The governor declared a state of emergency ahead of the eclipse in case so many visitors caused disruptions to traffic flow.
There was 500 to 1,000 people at the Herman Dierks Memorial Park, some from neighboring states. It was perfect weather with only slight cloud cover. The clouds were not a factor once the eclipse started.
We took a picnic lunch with us and had a great time.
I took all of these photos by holding my disposable eclipse glasses against the lens of my Samsung Galaxy S21+ without using any kind of stand or mount and using maximum zoom. I think they turned out pretty good.
This is a picture of the park showing how the light is dissipating.
We left shortly after the totality.
