People are having a good time watching the solar eclipse

Trailing through a storm: The 2017 eclipse of Asiyah Herrera and her husband, Genevieve Goss, is an extra special experience

Asiyah Herrera, 22, isn’t just excited for the eclipse because it’s a rarity — but also because it falls during Ramadan, which many Muslims worldwide observe as a month of fasting, reflection and community.

The couple flew to Wyoming to see the 2017 eclipse. She says that tying the eclipse to their anniversary will be worthwhile, even though Indiana may have more cloud cover.

Goss says the dual milestone is meaningful because astronomy is close to their hearts: She describes herself as an amateur astronomer and says her husband is a former president of the Astronomical League, an umbrella group of amateur astronomy societies.

They plan to drive over 70 miles to Vincennes and then to the church where they married on April 8, 1989.

Genevieve Goss and her husband John will celebrate their 35th anniversary on Monday in the Indiana city where they married, which just so happens to be in the path of totality.

Goldstein also took the morning off during the 2017 eclipse and drove an hour from his office hoping to catch a good glimpse. Unfortunately, it was cloudy — and then started to rain.

He feels like he is doing a good thing and good service for people who are interested in backpacking and seeing a unique event.

The plan is to cover six miles a day for three days, with time left on Monday to hike up to a fire tower and watch the eclipse. Goldstein says the group will be about 10 people, eight participants and two co-leaders. And, unlike many other such outings, it’s free of charge.

A 59-year-old man, who is a long-time outdoor enthusiast, leads regular outings throughout the year and teaches a backpacking course through his local Sierra Club chapter. This eclipse trip is not simply because of the rarity, but is extra special, he says.

Where is the pier? Luna Pier, Illinois, is a destination for eclipses for families and friends of Jake and Helen Hutchins

Jake will be taking a day off from his job as aodiatric surgeon to co-lead a backpacking trip through the mountains of Arkansas.

“I’d like people to come and see it when we’re open in the summer, and it will be pretty when it’s done,” she says. “But it’s going to get very cozy here on the eclipse day … Everyone will need to be patient.

Gardner says Luna Pier, which was long financed by a now-defunct power plant, relies heavily on tourism for revenue and would absolutely capitalize on the eclipse if not for the issue of egress. But the mayor of a city just six miles from the Ohio border has found himself directing people to Toledo instead.

Gardner says they are getting a lot of calls. “People are asking if the beach is open and the pier is open and it is, but we’re not doing any special celebrations or advertising or parties or anything like that, sadly.”

The city of about 1,400 people has been getting a lot of buzz lately, with national and local press crowning it a top eclipse destination. But there’s one big problem: The bridge on the only road into town over I-75 is being rebuilt and isn’t set to reopen until July.

“A name like Luna Pier — I mean, this is just made for us,” says Mayor Jim Gardner, 65. There is a pier on Lake Erie. We were looking forward to this for so long.”

Luna Pier, in the far southeast corner of Michigan, sounds like a perfect place to watch the eclipse, and not just because it’s the only city in the entire state in the path of totality.

They will celebrate on Sunday at a nearby brewery, giving out eclipse glasses, serving half-moon cookies and moon pies and pouring “galaxy drinks.” They plan to watch the eclipse with friends and family on the deck.

Helen Hutchins is pregnant with her first child, and is excited to see the eclipse. She knew she’d be about 33 weeks along by that point — so what better time to throw a baby shower?

Warkentin says that they played disco music and had a good crowd of people. They looked at the projections of the eclipse on the walls of the library, swaying in the wind and on top of the building. It was really incredible.”

The Great Eclipse of 2023: Towards a Better Day for People to Look Up at the Sky with a Disco Ball

One advantage, she says, is that they allow whole groups to see the same thing at the same time (as opposed to looking through individual glasses), creating a shared experience and better conversation.

Their findings were published in the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. And Warkentin hopes others will consider using disco balls to enhance their viewing experience on Monday.

Round Rock — a city about 20 miles north of Austin — had a front-row view of the annular solar eclipse that passed through Central Texas in October 2023.

The tales include a New York parents-to-be planning a themed baby shower to a Texas librarian making disco balls for the Michigan mayor.

The Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm in Mount Airy, Md., will only get about 90% coverage of the sun on Monday. It expects a big turnout for the eclipse-watching party.

Barse is looking forward to welcoming those who are not in the path of totality. The brewery will give away free eclipse glasses (the wearing kind, not drinking) for the first 100 attendees. But it’s bracing for many more.

Extra staff and taps were brought on just for the day, and expecting a high turnout even if it’s cold. Barse knows people will get excited if they see a partial eclipse.

He says it’s a great thing. It’s like a Monday and people aren’t at work and they don’t go to school.

Some Americans are planning to drive across town, others are flying across the nation to see the phenomenon, and most are just looking up at the sky.

Even though the path of totality is a 100 mile wide, there are still many more people who will be able to view a partial eclipse.

Herrera, a junior at Simmons University in Boston, plans to take time off from classes to spend the day with her family and go to a local mosque for a special prayer that is only said during an eclipse. Its general message, she says, is about taking a pause to recognize “just how big and vast the universe is.”

She believes that the entire day is dedicated to God, and she will break the fast with her family and return to the mosque for evening prayers.