To me this perspective on Anacapa Island looks like a giant gator lurking in the water. Unlike the different angle of pic I posted here a few days ago, this one was ok without a polarizing filter so the color is closer to how it actually looked. Gator & Miguel are my two favs of the Channel Islands closest to SB. At least until we’ve explored them all by land and sea. 🙂
2707 Anacapa the Gator
We flew some Young Eagles on three short flights from co-sponsor Above All Aviation through Lynn Houstons program named A Different Point of View, and during the flight I spotted a whale near the beach. I told the Eagles they were our lucky charms, because we rarely see whales and almost never near shore. After the last of our three flights we went back to look for the whale and happily found two. My fav pic of the encounter is this Pointillist impression with prismatic colors from the particular sun angle in the gently rippling water.
3014 Pointillist Prism
It glided slowly along just beneath the water like this, then finally came up for air.
3025 Whale Breath
Moments later it left a swirling circle of calm on the surface as it silently vanished into the depths. Mist from the breath of this blow hung briefly in the air, reminding me of the day I swam next to a Humpback as it sounded off Maui. The musky smell of that breath drifted down in a magical mist around me into the wordless memory of a lifetime.
We found ourselves feeling inexplicably sleepy in the evening, then realized this is why.
2162 Far Away Lands
Today we journeyed to far away lands a few minutes from our shores, via magic carpet. This view across San Miguel to the other Santa Barbara Channel Islands stretching into the dim East initiated us into a lazy tour of such dreamscapes. Soon we were looking back at San Miguel from the other end, where colors conspire to transport the unwary back to memories of the Bahamas.
2248 Bahamian Miguel
No wonder we felt drowsy, with so much to dream about! Overwhelmed with such visions, it seemed our excitement alone would have carried us along toward veils of mist in the mysterious East.
2410 Anacapa Island
As we neared that end, the green gator shape of Anacapa greeted us. We’d been desperate for a clear day to make this flight before brown summer sets in. We even got to see faint blushes of yellow Coreopsis crouched on the North slopes.
The three primary colors of light are red, green and blue because they can be mixed to create every other color. Maybe this is why we love flying Santa Barbara, because our vistas offer the full spectrum. On one short flight with a friend we saw Red Rock, where some swimmers took a break from the river to enjoy the beach.
1962 Red Rock
The red is probably from iron in the rock, and I like how it plays with the streak of green rock at the right that’s probably from copper content. The water will probably all but dry up in a few months, but normally this is a very popular Summer spot for swimmers and the daredevils who jump from great heights into the refreshing pool. The same recent rains that temporarily revived the river pools also brought a brilliant blush of green to the hills.
1989 Green Wrinkles
The happy cattle grazing here have worn winding topographic furrows into the slopes, offering an impression of wrinkles among the aging oaks with a faintly bluish hue. For magnificent shades of blue of course we need look no further than our shimmering Pacific, but I like the peculiar blue of this deep pond beneath the dam holding back muddy green at Gibraltar Reservoir.
1955 Precipice Blue
For me the colors are greatly accentuated by the rush of looking directly down over the dam. I guess it’s deep in our DNA for gazing deeply into the blue over such a precipice to be breathtaking.
Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch was only a few minutes’ flight from here, so we flew over it a few times coming and going places. We’ve never landed of course, much less driven out to the locked gate. After his surprising death a few years ago, we saw crowds gathered at the gate and not long afterward all the carnival rides he’d installed there were sold off and taken away. Though we saw a period when that once fanciful escape had seemed to fall into disrepair, it now appears well maintained. Many of the signature sights we’ve seen from above including the train station I posted yesterday, look quite nice as does this floral name.
4674 Neverland In Flowers
Today I thought you might enjoy an aerial tour in photos, so let’s start in the pic below looking East at the North end nestled beneath the mountains we were returning from on our wildflower exploration.
If you click on this link to see the largest version here, you can make out some details. At the left edge is a building that seems to house trains, with another long train building below and right of center off that wide circle in the tracks left of center bottom. Sprinkled around the pastures are what appear to have been horse and pony riding areas. Top right is an array of small “Old West” looking buildings that I understand were a petting zoo. Below the red barn in at area on this side of the trees you might be able to make out a large cage that maybe housed a monkey or birds.
1731 Petting Zoo
Here’s a zoom view of that petting zoo, barn and pasture area with the cage I mentioned just beyond the bottom of the pic. This place would make such a great theme park for kids now, but the local residents would be severely impacted by the resulting traffic and of course water would be a major problem. I’m glad it’s being preserved though, and maybe a few people get to visit it as a giant museum of sorts. Our next area moving South is where all the rides had been.
1732 Neverland Rides
At the left edge is that floral name again as seen from the West, and maybe you can get a sense of how the ride it had been at the foot of fit into the other rides. Hard to imagine now, with just the concrete pads and a few ticket booths plus at bottom left what was presumably a little track for cars. The two buildings center and right bottom are quite attractively done and nestled among giant ancient oaks.
1733 Neverland Mansions
There seem to be two main mansions on the Neverland estate, nestled in the trees above the tennis court in this pic. Just above the court is a fancy garage, and the main mansion above and left of that. The other is on the lake, above and right of the garage. I understand that Elizabeth Taylor once married and honeymooned there, but maybe someone who really knows will contact me with reference material.
1777 Tennis & Pool
This lovely building sits between the tennis courts and pool, and you can see more detail of the garage in this zoom pic. Here’s a zoom pic of the “Taylor” manse.
1779 Liz Taylor?
I like that little gazebo looking at it across the lake. What I call the main mansion is a collection of roofs mostly hidden among the trees that are just beginning to take on Spring leaves. Here’s that main mansion, brightened a bit to show a little bit of how magnificent it looks through a zoom lens from 1/4 mile above. There are probably helicopter photos taken with those stabilized monster zooms that can count the fleas on a pony, but hopefully this can give you a distant glimpse.
1806 Neverland Mansion
Here’s a look at the whole South end for some context of how everything fits together so nicely.
1740 South Neverland
Above the large green field just right of top center is the petting zoo area, and the train station is to the left of the tennis court. As you can see, there’s another loop in the train tracks at this end. I think there are two different train lines that don’t connect, using different gauge trains. This one uses the long train building I pointed out and the smaller one uses that building barely visible at the left edge of the other pic above. I think the small one took people to the petting zoo area. Last up, this zoom pic of the main mansion’s beautiful post and beam front entrance that may have given some visitors the impression they were entering Neverland Lodge for a train safari back to the Old West.
1823 Neverland Lodge
I guess hundreds or thousands of people recall being at this whimsical place, and I hope they’re all pleasant memories.
John & Anne Wiley 
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