Thursday Thirteen: Evacuated!

We came back from Legoland to drive into a wall of smoke from the fires out in Ramona on Sunday afternoon. We decided we’d better pack our bags just in case and have everything ready to go in case we needed it. I would have happily unpacked it all unused! We decided we’d pack the van and parked it outside about 2am and grabbed some sleep. We woke up around 5am and could see the flames crawling over the next ridge So over. It looked like lava flowing down the canyon. We went to one of the evac shelters and spent the morning there and decided to head out to the coast to a friend’s house we stayed there until about 2 am and then drove to Anaheim to a hotel. We switched hotels just to get internet access, but we’ve been focused on what’s been going on at home. No writing this week! So, once you’re away and have time to stop and think, you begin to think about what you left behind. I must say, after having come home to a house fire before, it’s MUCH nicer to have a chance to pick and choose what you want to save than not.

UPDATE: We’re back home, the air quality here is slightly better than Anaheim: this morning you could smell the smoke from the fires up that way in the hotel air conditioning. DH’s office is a bit smelly, but our house up on the hill isn’t too bad. We lost some roof tiles to the wind on Sunday night, but that seems to be the extent of it.

13 Things We Should Have Grabbed or Done Monday Morning

1. Bathing suits: cabin fever and kids don’t mix well when you have a great view of the hotel pool. At least we can’t see the castle as Disneyland from our room.
2. Chargers for the Nintendo DS: cabin fever and kids don’t mix… DH did find an adapter, phew!
3. More underwear! Always a good thing.
4. Camping Bin: flashlights, batteries, air mattresses, emergency radio… DUH! I think this will do ouble duty from now on
5. Weekend Fish Feeders: I hope they haven’t eaten each other. I also hope the water isn’t toxic.
6. Some Playstation 1 games we already paid too much on eBay to replace once after the aforementioned house fire.
7. The autographed book one of Harry Potter and many other autographed books and CDs
8. The limited edition letterpress prints and other stuff in DH’s art portfolio
9. Our Tent: we might have stayed at the first evacuation center… *shrug*
10. PB&J: had the loaf of bread and sandwich meats, but DS won’t eat those *eyeroll*
11. Copy of email and phone contacts — had some, not all. Thank goodness for forums and mail2web.com!
12. DH’s car: we probably should have left it out in the driveway, not in the garage
13. Claritin! DS and I could breathe much easier if we had some… oh, right, it’s in the camping bin… *headslap*

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1 Lorelei James	2 Ava Rose Johnson	3 R.G. Alexander	4 Amelia June
5 Gina Ardito	6 Cassandra Curtis	7 Jane E. Jones	8 Savannah Chase
9 Susan Helene Gottfried	10 Kelly McCrady	11 Alice Audrey	12 DD Mills
13 vixen	14 Sandra Schwab	15 Morgan St. John	16 Carrie Lofty
17 Unusual Historicals	18 Jennifer McKenzie	19 frustrated writer	20

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19 thoughts on “Thursday Thirteen: Evacuated!”

You all are definately in my prayers. (((Warm hugs))) to you and your family. Be safe.

I’m gonna keep praying for you an your family, the whole thing is so tragic…..Please be careful and all of you stay safe

Wow, now that is T13 dedication! ((hugs)) You and your family are in my thoughts and in my prayers.

My T13 is up at http://midnightmooncafe.blogspot.com

We’ve been watching the coverage on TV. My thoughts are with you!!

I was shocked to see how bad it was yesterday. I knew about them, but I didn’t realize how extensive and destructive it was.
I’ll be think about you. I know it’s scary and I don’t know how you’ve managed to sound so calm, even amusing.
Frankly, you rock!!!
Hang in there and I hope the Cabin Fever doesn’t drive you nuts.

Oh, my gosh!

You and your family are definitely in my prayers!

Keep the faith. 🙂

OMG! Those wildfires have been terrible. I hope you’re okay and aren’t affected by them. *hugs*

Hindsight is 20/20, but hopefully there won’t be a next time that you can use your new knowledge. 🙂 Glad to hear you’re fine.

Glad to hear you’re okay. The whole thing is a nightmare.

How awful! I hope your house will be fine, fish and all, and that you don’t succumb to the urge to throttle the kids.

How horrible for you! I hope the inconvenience is all you experience. Keeping you and your family in my thoughts!

Ugh! Hope everything is clearing up out there. I wish some of our rain could get to you. We’ve had two whole days so far! :eyeroll:

You’re in my thoughts.
Morgan

Christ, that’s awful. Glad you’re okay, though. Keep safe

I was tempted to not comment since you had 13 comments to your TT. But I just want to say (again) that I’m glad you’re all okay.

What a mess!

Keeping you and your family in my thoughts, Kaige — here’s hoping you’ll be able to return home soon!

I’m glad that you’re home, healthy and there wasn’t too much damage to your house.

It has been fun reading everyone’s TT. Thank you for stopping by to see mine. 🙂

The horrors of poor forest management practices and cramming too many houses too close together–arrgh! Hope your home remains unscathed for another fire season.

Oh, my! Congrats on having a home to return to! You’re in my prayers.

SO glad you’re okay!! As you saw, I’ve been thinking of all my SoCal friends lately. My sister’s too far North of things — up near Pasadena, so she’s fine. In fact, my parents are out there, visiting!

Happy TT. I’m glad you stopped in and told me you were okay.

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