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It's going to run across the entire US - "From Sea to Shining Sea," with almost 2 minutes of totality on the west coast to two & half on the east coast. From NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 Aug 21
We enjoyed the Annual Eclipse we got here in the West in 2012, but this is my first Total Eclipse - as well as my last I guess. I've been playing with the idea of traveling to Yellowstone, then viewing from Grand Teton, for a couple of years now - planning in more detail since last summer. I got my kids & grandkids interested, and they wanted to include Mount Rushmore & Little Bighorn, so I started watching tickets to Rapid City with a return flight from Idaho Falls. We were all set to buy $400 tickets as soon as available, but we were put back by the prices demanded when they finally opened for booking! I don't remember all of the history, as I've been checking fares daily for months, but they're currently over $800!
We finally decided to spend $474 each flying into Rapid City August 15 and returning from Bozeman several hours after the event on the 21st. My daughter the vice-principal and the kids will be missing some school for this so we have to come home no later than that day. I currently have a 7 passenger van reserved with their huge fee for dropping off in a different state, along with hotel rooms reserved in Keystone SD, Billings MT, then 4 nights in Yellowstone. I thought I was a little premature trying to book those in June, 14 months in advance, but the cheaper lodges were almost sold out! Glad I got what I could. *
Subject to last minute changes, I think we'll leave Yellowstone that morning to be around Thornton ID for the event, the closest on the centerline to our departure airport. We'll get 2 minutes 18 seconds of totality there, with that phase over at 17:35:27 Universal Time or 11:35am MDT and the show pretty much over by noon. It looks like a 3 hour drive from there to our airport so they should work well if we don't run into problems - and of course, we're hoping for good viewing weather. I'd rather watch from Grand Teton, but I don't think we could make our 5:20pm plane from there.
You're going to need solar viewers wherever you are, even if you settle for a partial show away from the centerline. I got mine at Eclipse Glasses | Solar Viewers | Shop Rainbow Symphony and there are other sites. Also available on Ebay, like 10 for $10, etc.
* By the way, I do have an extra cabin at Old Faithful Lodge. I reserved an extra just in case, knowing I could release it later for full refund. It's for August 17-21 @ $101/night including taxes. I can just release it, but if a diver wants it and we could handle the transfer easily, I'd be glad to help someone out.
We enjoyed the Annual Eclipse we got here in the West in 2012, but this is my first Total Eclipse - as well as my last I guess. I've been playing with the idea of traveling to Yellowstone, then viewing from Grand Teton, for a couple of years now - planning in more detail since last summer. I got my kids & grandkids interested, and they wanted to include Mount Rushmore & Little Bighorn, so I started watching tickets to Rapid City with a return flight from Idaho Falls. We were all set to buy $400 tickets as soon as available, but we were put back by the prices demanded when they finally opened for booking! I don't remember all of the history, as I've been checking fares daily for months, but they're currently over $800!
We finally decided to spend $474 each flying into Rapid City August 15 and returning from Bozeman several hours after the event on the 21st. My daughter the vice-principal and the kids will be missing some school for this so we have to come home no later than that day. I currently have a 7 passenger van reserved with their huge fee for dropping off in a different state, along with hotel rooms reserved in Keystone SD, Billings MT, then 4 nights in Yellowstone. I thought I was a little premature trying to book those in June, 14 months in advance, but the cheaper lodges were almost sold out! Glad I got what I could. *
Subject to last minute changes, I think we'll leave Yellowstone that morning to be around Thornton ID for the event, the closest on the centerline to our departure airport. We'll get 2 minutes 18 seconds of totality there, with that phase over at 17:35:27 Universal Time or 11:35am MDT and the show pretty much over by noon. It looks like a 3 hour drive from there to our airport so they should work well if we don't run into problems - and of course, we're hoping for good viewing weather. I'd rather watch from Grand Teton, but I don't think we could make our 5:20pm plane from there.
You're going to need solar viewers wherever you are, even if you settle for a partial show away from the centerline. I got mine at Eclipse Glasses | Solar Viewers | Shop Rainbow Symphony and there are other sites. Also available on Ebay, like 10 for $10, etc.
* By the way, I do have an extra cabin at Old Faithful Lodge. I reserved an extra just in case, knowing I could release it later for full refund. It's for August 17-21 @ $101/night including taxes. I can just release it, but if a diver wants it and we could handle the transfer easily, I'd be glad to help someone out.