Woke up this morning to the news that the I5 was closed because of fires in Camp Pendleton, so we couldn’t go back even if we wanted to. But that seems to be under control now, and the highway is open again.

There are some reports here and there that neighborhoods right by us are open — ones that were closer to the fire even — but when I called the county’s hotline, they said that our zip code was still marked as restricted, so we are staying put for now. In a half hour, we’ll miss checkout time for the hotel, and at that point, we may as well stay the night.

I am thinking we may also go shopping for stuff likely to be hard to find down there, like dust masks, HEPA filters, and the like.

Finally, some time to actually sit and write. First off, status. We’re fine, and we’re in Anaheim, which seems to be one of the few places not completely covered by a smoke plume (it’s still hazy though!). We are probably here for another day, just because of air quality and waiting for evac orders to lift for our area.

So, there we were at Legoland, the kids enjoying a day with grandparents. We were driving back and stopped off at Fry’s (they’d never seen one). While there, I got a call from my mom — in Florida — asking if we were affected by the fires. “What fires?” I said. Nobody there knew what I was asking about.

Then we took 15 south, and saw the giant plume of smoke. We drove right into it to get home, and at the house, which sits near the top of a hill in southern Rancho Bernardo, we saw a basically gray and yellow sky, with occasional ash falling. Here’s a pic from the back yard — normally, I can see to Escondido, fifteen miles away. We then went to the TV and the net to try to find out more about the fire.

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