comparing 2024 to 2017's
As I mentioned upthread, in 2017 we were basically at the centerline for totality at our place, whereas where we are now we were in the zone of totality but nowhere near the actual center.
Comparison:
being at the centerline (2017) was more impressive as we remembered it getting darker, obviously had longer total darkness than now, and it seemed to get cooler in 2017, but that might be because we were in a much less humid area so that the air could cool quicker. The animals didn't quite react as strongly this time, although they did get quiet at full eclipse. We did have clear skiess, with only a couple wispy clouds that fortunately didn't interfere with totality.
The "ring of fire" was the same, although it was darker in 2017 and we saw stars, although not any planets that we saw this time. (I also thought I saw a flare in totality this time, so interesting that others seemed to confirm.)