The fires are about 25 miles from us. Last night we decided to climb the very high hill in our neighborhood. It is part of a park and very, very dark at night. Home to many critters, including rattle snakes and coyotes it can be a bit intimidating at night.

But there was a bright moon just a few days past full and we took a flashlight.

You can see quite a distance from the top... San Clemente and Camp Pendleton to the south, Catalina Island to the northwest, and in winter time you can see the snow cap on the mountains to the east.

And there to the northeast a weird orange glow. It seemed to be gyrating. It would get wider, taller, move from side to side...getting brighter and then dimmer.

It was eerie and hypnotic and frightening all at the same time.

A bit surreal was the sound of kids playing tennis on a lit court below.