On Aug. 21, the people of the United States stared in awe as the moon passed over the sun. I was given the opportunity to travel up to Clayton, Ga., to watch The Great American Solar Eclipse in the path of totality. Although the eclipse was visible all across the country, only in the path of totality was the full eclipse viewable. The eclipse, occurring over the whole country for the first time since the early 1970s, attracted people from all around the region to leave their average Monday afternoon commitments and drive to see the extraordinary event.

“[It is] a great opportunity to take a picture of a once in a lifetime event,” nature photographer Emory Magetty said.

Emory, along with many other photographers, had to get special lenses for her camera so that the sun would not damage the original lens. Matt Plyler brought his iOptron camera mount to be able to track the moon as it passed across the sun.

People all across the line of totality were setting out lawn chairs in the middle of parking lots and lining the sides of the highways. The police throughout the area put a strict no stopping on the side of the highway policy in which the police were supposed to not allow people to view the eclipse on the side of the road. However, once the eclipse was close to totality, people stopped on the side of the road, got out of their cars and proceeded to watch anyway. The police who happened to be nearby were too mesmerized by the view that they did not even ask the viewers to keep moving.

“To only be a couple hundred kilometers away was just too good to pass up,”  traveler Mike Ellenberger said.

People traveled from all over the southeast to see this amazing event. There were people who were close, such as Michael Hartley who lived “only an hour away” and wanted to see a “once in a lifetime event.” Then, there were those like Mike Ellenberger from Auburn, Ala., who had a total trip time of about four hours.

“The shadows of the eclipse were putting rings in the ground and everything looked really shiny, and for a solid two minutes it went dark, but it went from dark to light like really fast, like someone was flipping on a lightswitch,”  junior Blake Helms said.

Once the eclipse reached full totality the “oohs” and “ahhs” began. “Its pretty dang cool,” Helms said. However, right after the two minutes of the total eclipse, people packed up and got in their cars and drove away, as if nothing happened.

Although total eclipses occur every few years, it was truly something special for the eclipse to shine down across the entire continental United States. Our nation joined together to view a majestic sight from the west coast to the east coast. It was truly a sight to behold, and for many, the event of a lifetime.