Trying to get into Balloon park (the only place left in ABQ that supposedly had eclipse glasses) we discovered, due to huge crowds, the City had let people get in line as early as 2:30. When we tried to get in, around 5ish, the line exceeded any line I've been in, including Comdex 2000, Disney World and past Balloon Fiestas (no joke.) Plus traffic coming out of the park was much worse than going in (at 5 pm mind you.) I actually drove right in to the museum lot and then realized why. The LINE!! The mass of humanity, the throng. A volunteer explained only about 1/4 of those people would actually get glasses, because they had already given out 1500 of the 2000 set aside. With that we left.
I was not to be denied seeing my 2012 Ocular Omen, especially being in the perfect path of annularity. Having already called hardware stores looking for welder's goggles Saturday, I knew none could be found. All goggles were gone. I pulled into Auto Zone. The clerk said he had been dealing with this all day. He suggested some high rated UV "limo black" windshield tint. I grabbed it out of his hand, paid and we were off. We improvised triple lining our shades with the stuff. These, over the top of my already UV protected Transitions eye glass lenses resulted in black out... UNTIL I glanced at the sun. WOW, I could actually see the round shape of the sun, not just a glare of light. I knew we had it. Off to the nearest park with an unobstructed view. Not a cloud in the sky. It was well worth the effort.
I'm not blind yet and I saw it, just like above. I had no way to photograph it myself. Poor people around us peeking through pin holes got the treat of a life time when we handed off our makeshift viewers. We did not stare. We just glanced and I advised all others to do the same. I will be ordering a pair of professional solar screens sometime before the 2017 total eclipse-- assuming we survive the end of the Mayan calendar this year ;)
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