MONTPELIER — The Beatles’ “I’ll Follow the Sun” played softly over the lawn of the Vermont College of Fine Arts just after 1 p.m. The mood was relaxed away from the busyness of downtown, even sleepy, as eclipse-watchers waited for the big event. Sprawled in their picnic chairs, some families lay back on their blankets and closed their eyes, sunbathing in the last hour before the moon began to darken the day.
Rep. Elizabeth Burrows, P/D-Windsor, is no stranger to the capital. When planning for the eclipse, she asked one of her colleagues in the Legislature to borrow their apartment for a night. She drove up on Sunday with her mother, Liz Cornell Weber, 83, her husband Justin, 48, and their two children, Jesse, 15, and Lee, 12.
“We really all consider it to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, especially that we can all be together for,” said Burrows.
None of them have ever witnessed a total eclipse before. Weber said she is conscious of how unique it is to share the moment with her daughter and her two grandchildren.
“I mean, my two sons traveled to see the 2017 eclipse and they said it was the most affecting experience of their lives,” she said.
