Monday, August 21, 2017, thousands of people experienced the sight of a lifetime. As the shadow of the moon cast itself across the earth, Americans watched their world darken. However, very few places in the United States experienced the total eclipse and total darkness like Casper, Wyoming.

Wyoming took the eclipse as a chance for a celebration. Starting on August 16th, the Wyoming Eclipse Festival brought festivities to the small town in Wyoming. On the day of the eclipse, there were tons of celebrations including an eclipse viewing party and over ten different places were set up to watch this once in a lifetime event.

Later, there was the “Celebration on the Circle” which included food, vendors, drinks, music, and other fun events for the entire family. The event was an attractive addition to the solar eclipse experience.

But was it worth the costs and treks to get there?

As thousands of Coloradans started their adventure north on Saturday, August 19th, traffic jams were unprecedented. The worst traffic came on the actual day of the event. People left at 3:00 or 4:00 am just to make it to the event by 11:42 am. Rocky freshman Conner Lofstrom said that it took his family “two hours to drive ten miles on the way home.”

Those who predicted and avoided the major traffic jams by leaving days earlier weren’t off the hook either. Finding places to stay wasn’t easy and hotels were using the event to draw in revenue. Hotel prices went up drastically, especially if observers planned to stay the night of August 20th. If they couldn’t find a hotel room, craigslist was a good place to look to find a place to stay. In Casper, local RV rentals were going for a thousand dollars per night, and campsites for $150 per night (occasionally with extra costs for extra people). There are even rumors that people were selling tent spots in their back yards for $300 a night.

Back to the question at hand, was all that worth it? Would you be willing to sit in hours of traffic, pay for tons of wasted gasoline, and spend the night in pricey, yet not optimal, locations for an event that lasted only two minutes and 26 seconds?

Here in Fort Collins, the experience of the eclipse was unique. An eerie, almost indescribable dimness settled around Rocky at 11:47. Unforecasted winds brought a cold chill and the birds disappeared while the bugs came out. Even if you weren’t watching the eclipse, there was no denying that things felt different.

Imagine the phenomena occurring in Wyoming during the total eclipse There was complete darkness, like night. The spooky glow from the sun’s corona, the majestic beauty of the solar event. the chance to watch what few got to see. Are these things worth the time and money to you?

To thousands of people, it was.