Up In Smoke.

Upon stepping outside today, the first two senses affected are sight and smell. The familiar scent of burning wood enters my nostrils, shadowed by a slightly sinister accomplice; the thick, mephitic stink of heavy smog. With eyes to the sky, I take in the surrounding mountain sides; quilted by an opaque, monolithic murk. This is the bleak, oppressive visage of a valley gone gray.

The 1,000+ fires that have ravaged over 38,000 acres throughout Lake and Mendocino counties for nearly a week have left an unsettling pall of smoke throughout Napa Valley.

- Brendan. (photos by Brian Worel)