In yesterday's blog, I included photos of the Las Conchas fire that broke out southwest of Los Alamos around 1:00 pm yesterday. Last night, we could see the flames from Santa Fe.
Just after midnight, I drove to Los Alamos and captured this scene.
As I approached Los Alamos, the glow from the fire and, eventually, the flames, were chilling sights so close to the city. Yesterday I marveled that the fire had already grown to 3,500 acres. WRONG! Early this morning, infrared mapping determined that the fire had consumed over 43,000 acres! By this afternoon, it had grown to 50,000 acres and Los Alamos was placed under a mandatory evacuation order. There actually wasn't much to see today as a thick layer of smoke obscured both the Pacheco Canyon and Las Conchas fires. The "clearest" evidence of the fires was in the ash raining down on us. We eventually had to close the windows because it was coming through the screens and depositing everywhere.
On a more personal note, today we celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary. (Drum roll, please.) Quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself. Considering that we're celebrating in New Mexico, Marie and I had fun reminiscing about all of the fascinating places we've visited and adventures we've had. Not bad for two middle class kids who grew up to be a government worker and secretary. Life has been good! We decided to celebrate at our new favorite Southwest restaurant, El Meze in Taos. Great service, great food and a great view (even with the smoke) as we sat out on the patio looking at Taos Mountain. (That's our dessert with a candle in it - what a nice touch.
If you're ever in Taos, we highly recommend El Meze. Top notch in every way.
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