I see the Moon and the Moon sees me

I went to bed really early last night.  I got into bed at 9pm because I knew I would not be getting a full night sleep; I had plans in the middle of the night with the moon.  However I awoke at 10:15pm with an issue and fell back to sleep around 11.  Didn't sleep all that well until 2:30am when my alarm went off.  I grabbed a sweater, a jacket, a camera and then I my car keys.  I drove to a parking lot and parked the car to watch the moon since I decided it was probably too cold to sit outside for an hour. 

I get to the site around 2:38 and wait til 2:45 when the moon was supposed to begin the full eclipse.  I am in this deserted parking lot staring up into the sky and a police car pulls in and loops around. I think - well I know he won't give me a ticket to watch the eclipse - but what if he is cute and I have bed head, didn't brush my teeth, didn't grab my wallet or phone...but he just looked at me and moved on - like it is normal to sit in a car in a parking lot to watch the eclipse...but what choice do you have when you live in an apartment building and don't have a balcony or if you did facing the wrong direction?   I see a few other cars on the street and wonder if they realize an eclipse is happening...don't they want to look at it?  When I look at the sky- the moon and stars - it always amazes me in the sense of how grand our universe is. It is also peaceful seeing the tiny lights shine and no one is around. Anyway, I contiue to watch a little more but realize it would be better to have company to make it more fun but head home earlier than expected.

At 3am I was home...watching the change is slow, and I was tired and antsy.   I look at the Internet and realize that at 3:17 was when the amber color was supposed to be seen at its brightest.  I make it a point to go back outside at 3:15 - this time just running across the street in my ultra thin pajama paints and a sweater.  Stayed out there a few minutes but it started to get cloudy and the wind was picking up so Iran back inside to warmth of my bed.

This is what they claim you should have been able to see last night....this picture was taken in VA and was printed by the associated press. The link is below.  This is what I was willing to loose sleep to see.

source

However, this is what I saw:  Granted it was a bit better in person and my camera's zoom isn't quite like that of NASA and other scientific companies.   The moon did have an amber glow to it, but I thought it was very soft. I had hoped for more.

I try to make it a point every year to mark my calendar with meteor showers and eclipses so when time goes by - I see an 'fun' thing to do that night.  I usually am the one telling others about what to see and the times to see it. 

Last night's full lunar eclipse was 'special' in a way that it happened to fall on the winter solstice, which last happened in 1638 and will next happen in 2094.   The next full lunar eclipse to be seen from the continental US will not happen again until April 15, 1014 according to NASA but partial eclipses will be seen each year with the next one in June 2011.