WAXAHACHIE, Texas —
Cindy Clark remembers seeing the 1979 total eclipse. She was 7 years old at the time and was instantly hooked.
Since then, astronomy has become more than a hobby, it’s a lifelong passion.
She and her family, who live in Bonney Lake, traveled to Oregon to be in the path of the annular eclipse in October 2023. Now, the same group is traveling to Texas to see the total eclipse on April 8.
This is a trip she’s been planning for years. She looked at the path of totality and researched which region typically has the best weather in early April, settling on Waxahachie, Texas. She immediately booked their rental home in the area, securing that in 2022. In the last few weeks, she also has been transporting her telescopes in waves to safely get them to Texas.
“This is multi-phase planning when it came to this for me. I had to think it all out, lay it on the calendar and I’m ready. All I need is a clear sky at this point,” Clark said.
She said this celestial event will be special because it’ll be another 20 years before another eclipse comes to the United States.
“I think I’m going to get a little sentimental. It’s going to be a bittersweet feeling. The beauty of this one is it’s going to last around 4 minutes long, but It’ll be the last eclipse in the continental United States until 2044. So hopefully I’ll still be around, but this is really the big one for me I’ve been looking forward to my entire life,” she said.
Clark said her goal is to cherish those few minutes and soak it up as much as possible.
In Washington and the northwest, viewing will not be as good. This map from NASA shows most of western Washington will get about 20% of the eclipse. Eastern Washington will see a bit better coverage, with 25% of the eclipse expected.