One of the many things I enjoy about flying, is seeing what people do with their homes. Sometimes a business will really stand out from the air, but more often it’s homes that display creativity and/or wealth clearly visible from a quarter mile up. This estate for example.
6199 Montecito Money
It’s such a magnificent place, and I like the pond in particular. I wouldn’t want to live there, but it’s easy to understand how plenty of people could yearn for that. The setting is great too, close to the amenities of Montecito Village.
6205 Montecito Village to Ventura
Hope Ranch has some really impressive mansions too of course, but I like how this “village” on the opposite side of Santa Barbara still has some relatively modest homes. People whose families have lived there for generations before it sprouted some estates of the uber rich. If I had unlimited funds and wanted to spend extravagantly on a house, what would I create? Each one is so different, and like admiring beauties like that first one it’s endlessly fascinating for me to watch them being built.
6203 Future Fantasy
Adding to our fun flying this part of town was spotting Pierre LaFond where we’d just bought a cookie. It’s nice that we can still afford to buy something in this part of town. 🙂
6207 Fav Cookie
Pierre’s is at the top of the pic, and though I prefer Anne’s exceptional oatmeal cookies and Molly’s insanely great chocolate chip, the best store-bought cookies are here. It’s a great place to sit and enjoy a cookie and a cup of coffee when we’re not home with much healthier home-baked goodies. As for my castle, it would have a glass turret and countless other quirky additions but it would all easily fit in the garage of most estates. It would have no more than three bedrooms with small attached bathrooms, and a low maintenance xeriscape yard. After setting aside funds for flying and some travel, the rest would go to making the world a better place. What would you do with the funds of the top one percent?
John & Anne Wiley 
Well, I did not like the estate home either, but the pond was refreshing. My own house on Kaiser on the airport approach does have a pool, but set in the typical tract home small lot. Not as a luxury but as a medically prescribed necessity in lieu of surgery for a back problem. Happily, it worked, with the therapy, and much cheaper than surgery, a year in a cast and therapy.
However, the maintenance of a pool is no small item. It takes it’s toll on the the average working person. it is not really a selling point when buyers must consider the expense.
I live mostly down here in Baja, and just enjoy my ocean and island views and sometimes miss a dip in the pool, but it is not a great need.
I love your pictures, and your freedom and wish you a long and happy life. Marie Mancilla
Comment by Marie Mancilla — 2011/09/29 @ 09:27