You’re right. It’s the quality of the light that is eerie and lovely.
I agree. The light slowly faded to yellow and then out. During the totality it never got fully dark, just very dim. I'm in the Cascade Mts. western foothills in Oregon, and I could see brighter light over the ridges to the north and south.
After the totality, the light slowly came back, and seemed to go from pale yellow to white much faster than it went away.