I found out this cool looking house next door to the Hermitage Museum is also part of the art complex, and home to more enigmatic and playful sculpture. We’ve requested that we be added to the list for a future (rare) tour. 🙂
6856 Art Next Door
2015/08/30
2015/08/23
Barbarians
We love Santa Barbara. Unless you’re new to this blog, you already knew that. But recently I found yet another example that might help explain it.
6843 Barbarian Abode
This relatively modest mansion in our hills exudes creativity and is a great example of our diversity. Many non-homogeneous places like ours struggle to get along even just between political perspectives, but here we do it better than most. Like some other places we have hardy minimalists living in trackless wilderness near (flying Tripp) massive mansions. Like many other places we have a large homeless population living among billionaires. We have salary workers below the poverty line, artists, and creative people of all sorts including those who’ve grown very rich from their passions. But of all the places we’ve flown in North America, there’s no place like home for mingling such extreme diversity so well.
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2015/08/07
Passing Pescadero
Passing Pescadero State Beach we turn East toward San Jose, but first a few more pix of this enchanted stretch of CA coast from Oceano to here. Though these homes are conveniently next to the highway with great oceanfront lots you’d want to either live and work nearby, have lots of time and patience, or commute via helicopter.
4915 Home Away From
It’s only 5 minutes’ drive from the store in Pescadero, but the population of 650 or so might limit options. Half Moon Bay with 20,000 or so people is only a bit over 20 minutes if there’s no traffic, fog, or storm. Santa Cruz has plenty to offer after a 45 minute drive or so. But on a good day (and time) you can be in San Fransisco in about an hour, so living here is a great choice for some. On the other hand, if you don’t often need to go anywhere, what a fabulous place to Be!
4914 Being There
My guess is the beautiful moss on those rocks means there’s plenty of ground water available, maybe even without digging a well if you have a spring to tap. I wake to surf song and laughing gulls, stroll sleepily out to my stairway and down onto the sand, and let the sea soothe me into the rhythm of another day. Just beyond this little dream is our last bridge on this tour, at Pescadero State Beach.
4907 Pescadero State Beach
Turning inland to climb over the mountains we glimpse the little secret gMaps calls Dairy Gulch.
4900 Dairy Gulch
That trail from the beach leads to a narrow foot bridge across the shallow slot canyon.
4900 Slot Bridge
Breathing deeply, we take in the expansive view back along the path of a leisurely flight taking less than two hours to deliver two million magical moments. This is one of the countless reasons people love to fly.
4899 Into The Hills
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2015/08/06
Nursery, Bean, Tidepools
Though beautiful, this nursery next to the beach was somewhat surprising. I guess some flowers do especially well in this particular climate because the blooms are radiant.
4927 Surprise Nursery
The little cove at Bean Hollow offers many delights for motorists who need merely pull over into the parking area to check it out.
4923 Bean Hollow
It doesn’t look like motorists will get a glimpse of the nursery, but there are trails along the rocks for strolling surf sounds.
4921 Shore Paths
The tidepools in this area are many and varied, and this mansion just above the waves sits next to a haven for tidepool watchers at Pescadero Point.
4920 Tidepool Mansion
Looking to the South, you can see we aren’t very far from Pigeon Point. That’s the lighthouse at the top center of this pic. Does this give you some sense of how rich in diverse scenic beauty (often hidden from other perspectives) a two minute slow flight can be?
4918 Pescadero to Pigeon
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2015/08/05
Pigeon Point
If you thought Pigeon Point was named due to a past pigeon proliferation there, read the wiki to learn otherwise and also get details about this magnificent 1871 lighthouse that’s tallest on the West Coast.
4940 Pigeon Point Light
You’ll also get some info about that row of buildings in the foreground. If you visit, you can get views somewhat similar to this and walk trails along the low beach bluff.
4935 Pigeon Point
At this point in our flight the wind was fairly strong (check out the foam streamers on the water in this next pic), yet the flight was quite smooth.
4938 Wind On Water
Because the terrain here is flat, there’s nothing to stir up the fast moving air so it’s fun to fly in. Going with the wind you get a free ride in the sense that you only need enough power to maintain altitude and let the wind provide the speed over ground. Going against the wind is great too, if like us you’re in no hurry, because with a similar low power setting you have more time to take in the spectacular views. All along this coast though, are indications of why a lighthouse was built at the point.
4934 Boat Bashers
The rocky beaches would make short work of any boat that chanced ashore here even in relatively calm seas like this. Scary to imagine big waves and a wind blowing directly onto these rocks, especially before there were roads and homes here (and GPS). Speaking of homes, there’s probably full-time work for window washers and tempting sea caves for a lunch break.
4931 Windows On The Sea
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John & Anne Wiley 
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