The largest wildfire in Colorado history is raging 18 miles north of our home in the mountains. It has burned over 200 square miles (140,000) acres of land and has inundated our valley with smoke and ash. At first, the smell of campfire was charming, but quickly the air quality over 3 weeks time became oppressive and unhealthy. Ash literally came down like a snow fall in 103 degree heat. Brooklyn and Daddy collected it in a plastic cup for fun one afternoon walk. The skies were grey for weeks. The visibility was so badly effected one could hardly see the beautiful mountains surrounding. We carried on with bbq s and horse back riding for three weeks before we decided to leave for fresh air.

It is hard to describe the smoke’s scale with pictures, but these are a few I took when the wind was blowing the smoke away from our city. When the smoke blew towards us the blue skies were hidden in grey and the sunsets looked like this. When we opened car doors ash flew up in a flurry cloud and our respiratory system became so irritated.

The Grandparents have graciously agreed to take us in and so we are traveling cross country to Illinois and Wisconsin to spend three weeks. We plan to finish with a vacation to the Black Hills, Badlands, and Mount Rushmore.