June 13, 2008

Shhhhhhhh, the kids are sleeping right here next to me in a dark hotel room. The smoke got so bad in the air yesterday that I decided to get the kids out. I put them in the car with bathing suits and pjs and some books and toothbrushes and my trusty computer and we booked outta there. I drove west with a plan to find blue sky, even if we had to go all the way to the mountains. But we didn't have to go that far. We only had to drive two hours.

My lungs felt better when we stepped out of the car into the Holiday Inn parking lot. We got a room with two beds, cable, hot breakfast, and a pool. There was nothing more than normal summer haze in the air and a bright moon over head. The kids swam till 8, watched atrocious cartoons till 9:30, and were asleep by 10. And they are still asleep now. But I'm not. I'm trapped here in the dark WITH NO COFFEE, no food, and nothing to do but type.

The air is supposed to be just as bad today. A code red day, but "real" code red, the paper had the audacity to tell me. Unlike the simple code red ozone days, this time there is so much particulate in the air, it is really unhealthy for the children to be outside. Ditto for ex smokers. By yesterday afternoon I felt like I had spent a whole day trapped in a smokey bar screaming at a raunchy band. My throat hurt and my lungs felt heavy. Today the throat is better, the lungs still heavy. Like I said, it's creepy.

So we'll hang out here where its cleaner. We'll take in some of this colonial action:
But first I think we'll go see Korner's Folly.
All in all, a pretty nice field trip. I hope its cleared off when we get home.

5 comments:

Maria said...

OH, how can one resist any home with "Folly" in the title?! (I think they do that in England alot, no?) Anyway, what a great (and necessary) outing you've had! What adventure...oh, I long for summer adventure...I feel mine will be knee deep in boxes...so I'm a tiny jealous and your hotel/colonial/folly!

Can't wait to see pictures...ahem...

Heather said...

I hope the air is cleaner when you head back home. I know it's a running away from the scary smoky air thing, and you don't get to sleep in your own bed and have coffee for chrissakes.. but isn't it a little fun to stay in a hotel when you're not on an actual vacation? Usually, one stays in a hotel when visiting family for some event like a wedding or funeral, or while you're vacationing and only have one weekend to see All The Sights, and you don't really get to just relax and let someone else make the beds for you. I'm glad you and your family got the chance to do that, even if the circumstances sucked.

Anonymous said...

Glad you got on out of there. We lived in Colorado the year of all those fires, and the air was like that quite a bit that summer. Ugh.

Hang in there. Hope you've found some coffee by now.

candyn said...

Oh wow, not being able to get a breath of clean air would make me feel all panicky after while. I hope it clears up for you soon. I love mini 'vacations' but due to more fun circumstances.

Too bad I can't send the extra water we have here to dowse the fires you have there! It would be nice if it worked like that.

MOM #1 said...

I'm glad y'all booked it on out of there. Enjoy you impromptu mini-vacation.