This is insane. I wish I could stream footage of the view from my mom's house so you people could see what it's like, because words just can't describe it.

The mountains are burning. From my mom's patio, I can smell burning wood, and I have a nearly 180 degree view of an inferno. Her house isn't at any risk right now, but it sure feels like it is. The fire is maybe a few miles away. You can use binoculars and resolve trees exploding into flame on the mountainside. It's been burning like this for weeks, and will probably continue for another week or so. The flame covers the mountainside, and these aren't small mountains, they're huge. It's not just one mountain on fire, it's the ENTIRE RANGE.

It's amazing how active it is. You can stand and watch the fire change and evolve, wax and wane in brightness and intensity. It almost looks like an "earth at night" satellite shot, where the mountain is a continent, and the fireline is a coastline of city lights. Either that or a shot from Lord of the Rings, and I'm staring straight at Mount Doom.

I took some panoramic shots with my camera, so I can post it when I get back, but from what I can see on the little LCD screen, it's really not capturing the full fury of the fires. I think I'm going to go back outside now and stare at it for a while longer, it's hypnotic and surreal. Every time I look away and look back, I kind of catch my breath, in a "fight or flight" syndrome, where the animal in me screams DANGER, FLEE! YOU'RE SURROUNDED BY FIRE!