We were on our way home when we drove into a thick cloud of smoke. By the time we got home, it was all over the news and we had narrowly driven through the worst part before they closed the highway.

 

The next week was spent inside our duct-tape-sealed-home, all four of us close to the air purifier that was constantly straining to clean the air for us. The smoke was so thick that it blacked out the sun for two days, and then when it started to clear, the sunsets were hot pink, blood red and popsicle orange.

 

We were so grateful for the air purifier, but Sydney did have some troubles breathing even with the machine. We all did. It was quite something to see, and we really felt for all the San Diegans that lost their homes. We were about 10 miles away from the closest fire.