The Great American Solar Eclipse

The intended plan for the big event was to be in Carbondale, Illinois (where we would visit friends & family AND experience the epicenter or longest ground duration of totality), but we ended up staying in Florida due to a few scheduling glitches. If you know us then you know how it goes. Haha.

We kept an eye on the sky and radar all morning. After a quick stop at the dive shop we saw it clouding up so we determined the best bet was to head south and forfeit the marina eclipse party (we went farther from totality, but necessary to eclipse viewing due to the cloud cover).

Thankfully, we escaped the incoming clouds to the north.The dive shop girl had just recommended a great shark tooth finding spot called Malacompra, so that's where we headed. To our surprise, upon arriving at our turnoff, a fabulous intracostal BBQ joint awaited us. After some amazing BBQ Reuben sandwiches with beet & feta salad we crossed the street where we watched the eclipse with 97% totality from the best setting ever-- THE BEACH!!

The eclipse was great background entertainment as we combed the beach for shark teeth, casted for bait and fished.

After the phenomenon was complete, we headed back to the marina in hopes of contributing our themed party snacks (Sun Chips and Blue Moon) to the rumored Moon Pies.

The chocolate and banana Moon Pies provided as a great learning tool for the kids as they proceeded to demonstrate how an eclipse works.