And it Burns, Burns, Burns... the State of Florida

I think it's safe to say there aren't going to be any 4th of July fireworks around these parts (I feel really country when I say "these parts". Is that a country thing?). On Monday the governor declared a State of Emergency due to the numerous wildfires and drought conditions throughout the state of Florida. Check out this map of the area surrounding my city:

View Wildfire locations in a larger map

Wildfires are pretty common in Florida, but it has been out of control this year. Apparently there are currently over 116,000 acres burning right now. The stench of smoke has hung in the air for weeks now. It wasn't so bad at first. I enjoy the smell of a camp fire and heck, I was even craving some smores at one point. But now? Now it is so strong that you can't even escape it in the house. It's even worse at work. My eyes and nose are burning as I type this. My throat feels raw and I'm a little bit dizzy.

I'm totally considering throwing myself down the stairs, blaming it on the smoke and going home with some workman's comp benefits. hehehe. Ohhh, don't worry (mom), I'm only kidding. Mostly.

Seriously, though. The smoke is thick. And the ash that is blowing around like our very own summer snowfall? It's creeping me out.

I took these photos with my cell phone about thirty minutes ago from the parking garage at work. It seems to be getting worse as the day goes on. Like I said, wildfires are common around here, but it hasn't been this bad since probably 1998. That year they had to shut down I-95. I'll never forget that because my mom, sister and me were on our way to Orlando at the time. We were heading to Universal Studios for our little family vacation and obviously, nothing was going to stop us! We woke up super early and drove down I-75 (I think?). The visibility was incredibly low and at times we could see fire burning on either side of the road. We must have just made it through before the authorities started closing that road down, too. I remember joking that maybe it was already supposed to be closed because we never saw anybody else out there. I will always remember my mom hunched over the steering wheel and totally white knuckling it all the way down. It was scary AND funny!



Oddly enough the hubs, stepkids and I have a trip planned to Universal this weekend. Thems wildfires best be movin' on before then... our resort hotel is non-refundable!