Before the sun came up Monday, the first visitors were waiting to get into the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park, anxious to get a seat to see what for many is a once-in-a-lifetime event -- a total solar eclipse.
"If a partial eclipse is like high school lunch, this is like dinner at the White House," teacher Summer Liu said, recalling what a visiting NASA scientist told her students leading up to the eclipse. "I definitely don't want to miss that!"
Liu was among the first to arrive at the Cotton Bowl. She was joined by a steady flow of people who found a seat in the stands, or a place on the turf to watch the celestial show.
Clouds that were overhead, gave way just in time. Everyone turned their eyes upward, holding glasses to their faces.
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"Come on sun. Come on sun," 4th grader Arianna Lucky said as the eclipse started. "It's awesome!"
Lucky was part of a group of students from 3rd through 8th grade from St. Anthony Academy in Dallas.
"Science is never-ending," 3rd-grade St. Anthony Academy teacher Tristan Cojoe said. "Just be able to explore new things and kinda bring a new journey to them, and just be able to explore new things that they've ever done before and kinda learn, 'Hey, science is actually cool!"
For a moment, it actually was cool-er, as the moon covered more of the sun the temperature dropped at the Cotton Bowl and day turned to twilight, turned to dark.
"Oh," Lucky exclaimed as she looked at the ring of light around the moon. "Wow, it's amazing!"
