Day 1 — A travel day (New York, NY to Auburn, NY)
One of my goals this year was to see the solar eclipse in the path of totality. I felt very lucky to be able to go with a big group of people and drive up to the finger lakes area of New York. This day was spent mostly driving. The finger lakes area is further away than you might think! It took us 6 hours to get there with many stops along the way. I love me a good road trip.
Once we arrived in Auburn, we joined up with the rest of the crew and walked over to Prison City Brewery. This was one of the only open places this time of the year and was quite yummy. They have a great selection of beers that they brew themselves. I highly recommend trying a flight so that you can try lots of different flavors. After dinner, we headed over to Wegmans which was a lifesaver. We got some snacks and breakfast items and then headed home.
Day 2 — Auburn, NY
The day of the eclipse aka the day of the dark sun (hehe avatar reference). The airbnb we stayed in only had one bathroom for all 13 of us which was kind of funny but also a struggle to figure out a time to shower. We walked around town a little bit and explored the women’s heritage center. Auburn has a nice downtown area with lots of older buildings that you can explore from the outside.
For the actual eclipse, we decided to drive 45 minutes north to Lake Ontario. The day of the eclipse was pretty cloudy and we decided that even though we probably weren’t going to be able to see the whole eclipse, we could at least see it from a cool area.
We arrived at the bluffs around 2pm and enjoyed our time on the beach shore. Lake Ontario is pretty massive and there were so many people on the beach! As the eclipse neared its totality, we did a group meditation. This was so wonderful and made me feel very present. During totality, we could see the shadow of the moon coming over the lake. It was the scariest but also most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was really in awe and not convinced that the sun was going to come back. I totally understand why native cultures don’t worship the solar eclipse, it’s pretty frightening if you don’t know what is happening.
After the eclipse, a lot of the people in our group headed back home, while a smaller group stayed back in Auburn for the night. There was some traffic heading back but we were able to have a cozy night in playing apples to apples.
Day 3 — A travel day (Auburn York, NY to New York, NY)
Another wonderful travel day. The sun came out again and we headed back on the road. There was a little bit of traffic, but a pretty smooth drive back. I got to stop at chick-fil-a which is reserved for my special road trip meal ❤ I really did not want to leave Auburn, it felt very peaceful there. We came back and enjoyed the remainder of the day outside in Newark’s Branch Brook Park which was experiencing the peak of the cherry blossom blooms. A wonderful day to end a wonderful short trip.
Some reflections
I am very happy that I got to see the eclipse with my friends. This felt like a weird little trip to do but I have wanted to do it for a while. Although I’m a little sad I didn’t get to see the eclipse in totality because of the clouds, I think the darkness we got to experience on the shores of Lake Ontario was very unique. Part of me kinda wants to go travel to different parts of the world to see the next eclipses.
