InMenlo’s tech/creative team member covers the eclipse

Emails InMenlo’s tech/creative guy Steve Wethington  from Dayton, Ohio: “Just got back from seeing the eclipse, and thought I’d send you a quick report from the Midwest Bureau of InMenlo. But wow, what an otherworldly thing to see! In 2017, there was a solar eclipse that passed over us in here Cincinnati at 91% totality, and I thought that was pretty spectacular — but this was really something else altogether.

“This time around Cincinnati was at something like 99.7% totality, but driving about an hour north to Dayton, OH would put me in the path of 100% so it seemed like the obvious thing to do. I didn’t have much of a plan as to where I was going to go, so I just drove around Dayton for a while looking for an easy place to park where my view wouldn’t be obstructed. I ended up finding a perfect spot near the Dayton Art Institute, right on the banks of the Great Miami River with around 50-60 others.

“In the 20 or so minutes leading up to it I was starting to question whether or not it was going to be worth the trip, as all I could see through my glasses was the dark orange spot of the sun becoming an increasingly thin crescent. But then it started getting darker and cooler — and the sense of anticipation was undeniable.

“At the moment the moon fully blocked out the sun there was a chorus of oohs and aahs, and even applause! It struck me as funny that people would applaud the sun (way to go sun!) but when I took off my glasses — safe to do during the totality — I honestly couldn’t help but feel emotional, it was truly awe inspiring and unlike anything I’ve seen before.

“That feeling was compounded by the reactions of the others around me. An elderly man behind me was on the phone with a friend trying to describe what he was seeing (“oh wow, this is historical, man!”), some high school kids were struggling to find the words (“I can see the…the…sun…thing around it!”), but I think my favorite comment was made by a little kid, maybe 9 or10, who capped everything off by saying “Mom, that was THE BEST 3 minutes of my entire life!”

Over the course of 10 short minutes it went from being a warm, sunny spring day to a cool, dark night and then back again. This photo was taken at 3:11pm. Hard to believe!

Photo by Steve Wethington (c) 2024