Early Friday morning I flew down to Burbank, rented a car and drove to Ojai. My two sons and their families live there and I went for a three-fold reason: to see my new grandson who was less than a week-old, to celebrate my older son's birthday, and to celebrate Mother's Day. I flew back to Vegas this evening.

On Friday, as I drove through Ventura and on up Hwy 33 to Ojai, I could see the line of smoke from the Santa Barbara fire. Later that day, I could even smell the smoke in Ojai as the wind pattern changed to an onshore flow.

Then at 1:27 Friday afternoon, the earthquake hit in Ojai. I was standing out on my son's patio which has concrete block pillars supporting an aluminum patio roof; plus, the 2-story house has many large windows throughout. When the quake first hit, it was just a quick, loud boom, and I even wondered if it was an earthquake or an explosion. But then a couple seconds later, the whole house just shook and shuddered for several seconds. I was facing the house and I could see it moving, so I (wisely) ran out on the grass, away from glass and possible falling objects. My son and his wife were in the house and when they saw and heard everything moving, they came tearing out of the house.

Their house is located about 3 miles due west of the epicenter. Bookcases and pictures in the house were moved by the quake. Also, early the next morning I drove them about 35 miles up Pine Mtn to drop them off (they did an 8-hr cycling trip home on a winding fire road). Along the way out there, I saw a lot of rocks in the roadway and I suspect they had been knocked loose from the hillsides by the quake.

For the rest of my stay I had my escape plan in mind in case the 1 in 5 chance of a larger quake should occur. But the rest of the weekend was and uneventful and I was able to enjoy my visit without having to jump into crisis / panic mode.

Barbara