There are not more impressive stellar phenomena in my opinion. (Other than ones that end civilization.) Unfortunately, it requires a full solar eclipse. A partial doesn’t cut it. With a full, the sun is completely gone, and I am lucky to have experienced that in Winnipeg in 1979. 38 years ago. I barely remember it. I certainly don’t remember wearing special glasses.
With a partial, the sun does not look any different. It is still the big glowing ball of fire in the sky. Only with special glasses can you directly see that anything is different. Indirectly, you can see that the things around you aren’t lit up as much as usual. It has all the appearances of early dusk, but the sun is still high in the sky.
I had thought about making a run for the border and going to Oregon to see the full Monty. But I kept hearing about the crowds of people thinking the same. There is no way I would have found a place to stay. And the traffic back would have been obscene. So I stayed in Vancouver, and did my job. Not very exciting, but that is what is needed to keep the world going.
But it was a nice experience to go to the roof of work, borrow glasses and pinhole cameras and see that there was something funny going on with the sun.