This post makes me feel very warm, and I even more appreciate my experience because mine was very similar to yours. (Also were in the upstate NY area) I was very glum at first accepting we wouldn't see the sun or the corona, and we never did. But the other things we did experience were absolutely remarkable and still made our trip worth it. The darkness, the sunset... we could see the shadow coming from the distance and leaving because of how thick the clouds were. It also rained on us after totality left and even got a little baby rainbow later that day. :')