We decided to head north and camp out in the beach town of Carlsbad - about 10 miles north of where we live. Our neighbor is a police officer and told us that his wife and kids are up here hanging out at the beach. So our 2-car caravan made our way up the freeway and right now we are getting some food and doing emails at this coffee shop. It's over 85F, sunny and blue skies.

As we left our neighborhood, the whole sky was smoky, orange and gray. Ash was blowing everywhere. The officers said that they are being overly cautious about the evacuation zone following the big fires that they had here four years ago.

We are hoping for the best. We don't appear to be in the direct path of the fire(s) but the winds really make the situation unpredictable. The smoke and ash are bad on their own. We brought our camping gear and are prepared to be away from home for a couple of days.