First the personal update. Steve was finally able to get back into Kenwood today and his house is fine. There is no power or water, but the house and his small vineyard still stand. He was planning on spending the night, decided that it was going to be too cold, dark and waterless, but when he tried to leave he was told he could not. Thus, he is now the opposite of evacuated.
Today I drove past some of the burned areas here in Santa Rosa. It is one thing to see the devastation on the evening news and in newspaper photos. It is an entirely different experience to see it first hand. The Journey's End mobile home park, which has been shown over and over, is completely gone except for what appeared to be about 8 trailers. I only saw it as I drove past, but the metal from the trailers must have melted because there is nothing there but gray ash. All I could say, in the car by myself, was "oh my god" out loud, over and over. Also from 101 you can see the edge of the Coffey Park neighborhood, nothing is left. The Hilton Hotel, once sitting high on a hill overlooking the Equus Restaurant, is nothing but burnt timbers. Next to it are scorched hillsides and a few buildings still standing but scorched as well. Random buildings gone. Outside one gun store that burned to the ground stood a huge stuffed grizzly bear, still intact. Next to that gun store was a tire store, doing a brisk business, not harmed at all.
As I mentioned before, the effects are going be enormous, physically, mentally, jobwise, housing, lifestyles. Life in Sonoma is going to be changed forever. For everyone.
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