I stayed near the east entrance of Yosemite for three weeks, and I was so lucky to get in some hikes in the park before the Creek Fire brought in the smoke and apocalyptic-looking skies.

When it was time to move on, I drove through Yosemite on my way to Oakland, and I stopped at the famous Olmsted Point on Tioga Road to look at the view, currently with insane smoke. There I met Paresh and Deepa, and their daughters Ruhi, 15, and Neeha, 10. They were also looking at the smoke. They were visiting from Las Vegas, and the girls had been allowed to miss a day of school to make the trip. Yosemite is reservation-only right now, and the family had been trying for a while to get one, so when they finally did, they took it.

Paresh said he’d been to Yosemite once back in 2004, but he wanted to bring his family. (He also did the most dad thing ever when I told them to relax for the photo: he put his arms up in a goofy pose, and the girls looked at him the way kids look at their dads when they’re being silly.) I asked the girls what they liked best, and they told me about seeing a bear on the trail—the waterfalls were a close second.

Paresh and Deepa are from Mumbai, India, but have been in the States since 1999 and 2002, respectively. It was fun to tell them I have family in Mumbai. Being ethnically ambiguous means even Indians don’t always recognize me, and most are surprised when I reveal I’m half Indian/half white.