Big Adventure

On Monday we drove to Crescent Bar (on the Columbia River, near Vantage WA) to meet Joe's family at an RV resort. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack to camera, so I don't have even a single picture of our trip! Anyway, Joe's brother John, his wife Janet, their kids Liberty (age 3) and Tobin (19 mo), as well as Mark & Lucy were there. Grace & Isaac love their family, so they were thrilled to see everyone. There was a great pool that we all played in and lots of room to run around. Mark & Lucy even rented a separate trailer for us so we'd have more space - it worked out really well. Tuesday we went down to the river & the kids had their first experience with life jackets & playing on the shores of the river. We were able to meet lots of Mark & Lucy's friends that were there as well. When we got back to the campground, we noticed a lot of smoke coming over the cliffs above us. As the evening went on, the wind gusts continued & the smoke continued to get worse until there were ashes falling from the sky & the air was thick smoke. Not thinking too much of it, Joe & I left the kids with our family & drove the couple miles up to the top of the hill to pick up a few things from the gas station & started to get pretty nervous as we began to see how serious the fire was. We got back in the car to head down the hill & decided we'd quickly pack up & head home (though we hadn't been planning to leave until the next day), as we didn't want the smoke to bother Grace's breathing (when she was so sick a few weeks ago, they said smoke or allergens could make her need the nebulizer treatments again). A fireman stopped us on the road & said they'd closed the road & we couldn't get back down!! Yikes! That was obviously a scary thought & did not sit well with us. We ended up talking him into letting us go get the kids. As we pulled into the campground, a policeman drove in right behind us & announced on a loud speaker "Everyone must evacuate immediately. The fire has jumped the highway. Evacuate immediately." It felt like the scene from a movie, with ashes falling, the sky an odd color & everyone frantically trying to get out of there. We loaded the kids in the van, threw all that we could quickly grab in as well, checked to be sure the rest of our family was ok & got out of there as fast as we could. It was wild. Thankfully, everyone was ok. I read today that the fire burned over 1,300 acres, but only a few homes and outbuildings, and no one was injured. We've had the van open all day trying to get the smoke smell out & have had to wash everything that we had with us. Joe's family drove home to Auburn last night & then went back today to get their motor-home. They said the campground was fine & the people that worked there had packed up the rest of our things for us, so we'll get them next time we see Mark & Lucy. What an adventure!!