Unbelievable! There aren't enough superlatives to fully explain what we witnessed on Monday. A quick recap, since I had no service at all over the weekend:

Our hosts really rolled out the red carpet for us, and I'll never be able to express my thanks for their hospitality. The Gundersons really came through for thousands of people and made this a life experience. So many kids, mine included, will look back on this as a peak moment of their life. I mean, how do you top watching an eclipse from a volcano?

The weather was crystal perfect, and we could see at least 20 miles in every direction. A range fire that cropped up on Sunday just west of the north butte was quickly extinguished, thankfully, so we had none of the forest fire haze I feared would block our view. There wasn't a cloud in the sky either. Weather conditions were optimal.

And people conditions were great too. Our little viewing perch on the north rim of the south crater had perhaps a dozen and a half people, some who traveled halfway around the world to be at that spot. The power of making this a shared experience cannot be overstated: do not watch an eclipse alone, of with a small group. Get somewhere with other people so you can feed off each others' excitement. It immeasurable heightened the experience for us.

Totality was somehow simultaneously everything I heard it would be and nothing at all like I thought it would be. The colors were what threw me for a loop -- silver, black, and deep rich blue all playing together for two and a half magical minutes. Words fail, cameras fail, but what I saw is seared in my memory forever. I hope it was the same for my kids and for everyone up there on the butte.

And thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hi at the HEMMCC. Chris was our constant and welcome companion on this experience, and we also got to meet Mark as well as Mike and Beatrice from Denver. It was good to put faces to names and hang out a bit.