Also, for those of you who say "I've already seen a total eclipse", chances are you are wrong. See this:
There are many kinds of eclipses - total solar, partial solar, annular, and lunar, to name the most common few. Partial eclipses are pretty common, and you very well may have been a part of one of those. Lunar eclipses happen at night, and they can be seen by half the world at the same time! Annular eclipses are much rarer, but you need to have special filters to see them, so many people don't even know they're going on! But a total eclipse -- these are extremely rare, extremely beautiful, and the bare-eye view of totality is absolutely unmistakable to anyone in the thin path! They are the kings of eclipses, with nothing else able to stand in comparison to!
These are the only total solar eclipses that have touched U.S. soil in the last hundred years, and the general locations you would've had to have been in to see totality:
6/8/1918
A nationwide band of totality stretching from the SW corner of Washington, through Denver, the Tulsa/OKC area, Jackson MS, the panhandle of FL, and Orlando.
9/10/1923
Only visible from the far SW beaches and a couple of the offshore islands in California.
1/24/1925
Northern MN, WI, and MI, and about half of NY (NYC was split in two by the path!), plus pieces of PA, NJ, and CT.
Read the New York Times articles about the 1925 eclipse, courtesy of Michael Zeiler!
8/31/1932
Maine, NH, VT, and the far eastern coast of MA.
2/4/1943
Alaska only
7/9/1945
Our "Victory Eclipse" was visible in ID and MT only, in the early morning.
6/30/1954
From northern NE, through the western tip of Michigan's UP. Minneapolis was in the path. Early morning.
10/2/1959
Massachusetts only, just at sunrise.
7/20/1963
Alaska got a good show, and Maine was the only other state to see totality.
3/7/1970
From central Florida, the path hugged the eastern coast of the US up through Virgina's Eastern Shore. This may have been the eclipse that Carly Simon was referring to in her 1972 song "You're so vain". ("You flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia - to see the total eclipse of the sun.")
7/10/1972
Northern Alaska only. This might also have been the eclipse that Carly Simon was referring to in her 1972 song "You're so vain". (see above) They were both visible from Nova Scotia! (The song came out in December of 72, so it's unlikely that it was this one, but hey - you never know!
2/26/1979
WA, OR, ID, MT, and ND were the only states to see totality, in the mid-morning. It was cold and dreary, and unfortunately many people did not see the eclipse due to rain.
7/22/1990
This one only touched four small islands in the Aleutians, in the late afternoon: Atka, Amlia, Seguam, and Amukta. From reports we've read, the day was rainy, and unfortunately no one saw the eclipse from US soil.
7/11/1991
Hawaii only, and lots of people were clouded out. (Many people went to Mexico to see this one, and were not disappointed there!)
That's it for total eclipses seen from the U.S.! Anything else you may have seen was not a total eclipse!
s6