Athens visitors travel for hours to experience total solar eclipse
ATHENS, Texas (KETK) – Athens was one of the first East Texas cities to experience totality during Monday’s eclipse.
2024 Solar Eclipse in East Texas
The once in a lifetime event brought people together at the Cain’s Center YMCA in Athens.
“I feel like it’s part of history, that all of us here are part of history and at the right place at the right time,” Nancy, a Grapeland resident, said.
While some people travelled a few minutes for totality, others took hours to get there.
“It’s been on our calendar for seven years, we were in an astronomy class together when we were dating and we heard it was going to go over Texas an he has family in Texas, ‘we’re going,'” Katie Olson, a California resident, said.
In California, the Olson’s fell in love under the stars during their college astronomy class and seven years later, they lived their total eclipse of the heart in East Texas.
“How dark it gets is the most jarring of all of it but when that first light came back right after the very end of it, my gosh it was so bright and beautiful it was just incredible to see,” Jack Olson, Katie’s husband, said.
Sulphur Springs becomes memorable eclipse viewing spot with longest totality time in East Texas
The Olson’s were not the only out of state visitors. Stevie Patterson, a Las Vegas resident, saw the 2017 total eclipse and flew in to experience totality with her family.
“99% is basically like 0%, it’s nothing, it’s cool still, but you have to have your glasses on the whole time. You can’t, you don’t get the full effect of the environment,” Patterson said.
The Olson’s told KETK they are planning to travel to the next eclipse location in 2044.
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