Did you see the solar eclipse? It has been 38 years since the last solar eclipse in the US and Canada. Angela, Claudia, Dylan and I headed to the Riverwood Conservancy in Mississauga to catch the partial eclipse at their viewing event.

Parking was limited so we drove to a nearby school on the south side of Burnamthorpe Road and rode our bikes to the Conservancy. It was a good plan. There were a lot of people parking on the side streets, but it was a zoo with people trying to get out.

They were handing out free eclipse glasses, when we arrived the lineup was huge, but they were waiting for more to come. Once they arrived, it was chaos and then it became a mob. We managed to get two pairs of glasses to share amongst the four of us. We arrived at 12:30PM and the peak wasn’t until 2:30PM, so we hung out in the shade, taking a peek every so often.

The crowds were huge, and there were a lot of disappointed people who didn’t get their glasses. They also had a number of people with their telescopes set up.

We were in line to see the eclipse through the telescope.

The guy had it projected on the inside of the box. That photo was taken around 2:25PM, just before the peak.

Trying to get a photos of them with the eclipse in the box.

After queuing for the telescope we saw one of the girls teachers from St. Richard. Miss Chen had retired while Claudia was still attending, so it’s been at least 5-6 years. Claudia and Angela had Miss Chen for Grade 3. We had a good day, it was hot and crowded but worth the effort. The next one is in 7 years, the wait won’t be as long.

Here is the path for the next one on April 8, 2024. The path of totality will pass over southern Ontario.

I went to the Riverwood Conservancy website tonight and it looks like the site crashed with all the traffic today.