Of course you don’t need a dark site to see an Eclipse, but for the rest of the experience it is nice to be able to see the stars too. We were able to show Cassie Orion and Sirius. I was sadly unable to find her eponymous constellation.

I was able to take these pictures hand held with my camera. Using the manual settings – including manual focus was a bit of a fight. Remember when taking pictures of the moon to use the sunny f/16 rule – on the Moon it’s sunny right now – even if it is nighttime. After the Moon is in Shadow (the colorful part of the lunar Eclipse) you have to experiment, or bracket, or have a really good spot meter to get the exposure right. My camera couldn’t get much image during totality – I think all of my pictures are during the lead up to totality.

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Which takes me back to one of our first days in Japan. We were at the train station in Umeda and I had to go to the bathroom. It was quite the experience. I walked in and saw the first stall, a squat toilet. So, I moved on to the next one. Which was a normal toilet, but with some crazy seat. So I sat down and was treated to a very pleasant warming sensation. There is nothing quite like going to the bathroom and getting warmed up along the way. Then I discovered the buttons on the side of the toilet. Man, that was interesting. There was one that released a spray to cover any smells, there was one that provided a faux-flush (no water, just the sound) to cover any unfortunate noises. Then I found the spray button. Courtney got a kick out of the smirk that was on my face when I left the bathroom. This is something you have to experience to understand.

It’s amazing what you can learn away from home.