Near the nearly dry Lake Cachuma, May mustard grass was painting slopes that are now a crispy dry pale brown.
2548 Yellow Flash
There was even lush wild grass on the low hill with abandoned building foundations next to the old highway with its small bridge that’s now normally under water.
2553 Atlantis Ranch
After climbing back over the hill toward SB Harbor we looked back at the Painted Cave community with the vast San Rafael and Sierra Madre ranges towering in the distance.
2588 Painted Cave
Forty is the New Thirty, they say. But that’s not the title source for this post. It’s about flying, of course, and in this case over the 3,000 foot “hill” to the Santa Ynez Valley. (I put “hill” in quotes, because on the East Coast that’s a mountain but around here not so much). Anyway, climbing over the hill I snapped this view back toward the beach.
2446 Hill To Coast
Lovely, right? A bit hazy, but the mustard blooms and blue sea more than make up for that! Looking at the full-res pic I noticed a castle. Like me, you probably don’t see it. But here’s a full-res crop from the original, showing this castle-like structure with two turrets.
2446 Castle
Pretty cool! Hope I can remember to fly over and get a closer pic one of these days. For now, it’s yet another example of how wonderful it is to fly here. That same pic has two scenes I really like. 🙂
2460 Over Hill
Just two minutes later I snapped this great view along the other side of the hill, toward Alisal Lake. Even hazier because I’m shooting toward the sun, but I just love the colors and shapes. So much that I descended for a closer look at this hillock that looks like a green wave breaking in a sea of yellow.
2503 Mountain Wave
All around the valley are farms, ranches, orchards and vineyards, and most have a mansion or large ranch house like this out among the fields.
2505 Valley Dreams
After touring the valley side of the hill, we flew up the river toward Lake Cachuma. This was back in mid-May when there were still beautiful pools like this.
2518 Lingering Pool
The texture of tall grasses and mossy water punctuates the dry valley where only ancient oaks thrive among the irrigated orchards. That line of life is always fascinating to me, especially with its green season extended by the controlled releases of water from the dam most years.
Often after one of our Adventures flying around the continent, we’ll take a short flight around home. Sometimes the next day, even though we may be resting up. After the 4C Adventure, we did rest up for five days but then filled our hearts to overflowing with views of our beautiful home town.
2200 Air & Light
SBA gives us instant gratification. The moment wheels leave runway we’re looking past the old Marine Corps bunker across the wetland past UCSB to the Channel and the distant islands. The quality of light here stimulates a deep breath, and the air that has been caressing skin fills your lungs with gentle aromas whispering, “There’s no place like Home.”
2238 Home On Hill
Even after many hundreds of hours flying here, every flight brings new beauty to notice. Perched among trees on this little hill just east of Turnpike is this modest mansion with a magnificent view. Looking up San Roque Canyon, our mountains offered a quiet anchoring presence whispering again in a deeper voice, “There’s no place like Home.”
2248 Home Mountains
Here’s (probably) my last post about our Four Corners (4C) Adventure. Our last day began in Flagstaff, and flying essentially West we encountered the haze that typically blows in from Phoenix and SoCA. There’s an austere beauty here much like the terrain spreading beneath most of our trip.
1908 Dry Vista
After crossing the ribbon of green where the Colorado River divides deserts and states we paused in the heat at Victorville. We took advantage of the FBO cheap fast food and drinks, then waited as military helicopters departed ahead of us presumably for desert warfare practice.
1971 Desert Training
Soon the air around us got more moist and cool, and then our beloved California Coast came into view luring us past Ventura homeward.
2052 Cool Moist
Descending toward SBA past Carp the blues and greens washed the arid desert from our eyes, and filled our hearts to overflowing with a colorful welcome.
2108 Rating: A1
Of all the places we’ve been, this gets our top rating. We love the people, places and things here so much that coming Home is always powerfully thrilling.
For anyone curious about our route on this 4C Adventure, here’s a map you can click or download to examine in more detail. Often when we return from an amazing exploration like this, people immediately ask what we’re planning next. Right now we’re planning to enjoy Being here in paradise for a while. 🙂
4C Route Map
Meanwhile, almost two months ago now back on May Day we flew from Denver to Flagstaff in a few hours. It never ceases to amaze us how much variety a few hours in Tripp can scroll beneath our wings. Taking off we enjoyed our last look at Denver on this our first Tripp trip there.
0986 Denver Farewell
With mountains so near, it was little surprise that after a 20 minute leisurely climb toward home we were over the high mesa at Woodland Park enjoying this closer look at majestic Pike’s Peak.
1202 Pike’s Peak
Another 20 minutes of various fascinations found us over famous Royal Gorge that Stacey & Cam had so wanted to share with us.
1287 Royal Gorge
Now I have to confess first that it is indeed striking, enhanced by both the slender suspension bridge and the nearly vertical funicular that’s barely visible in the notch on the left side here. That said, it doesn’t particularly stand out from the innumerable geological wonders we’ve seen from the air. It’s not that we’re jaded or elitist, just that we have the vertical freedom to amaze our eyes on every flight. Yet in a way it’s like Big Sur: different and more immediate from the ground, so in some ways better there and in other ways better up here. 🙂
1336 High Dune
I’d been curious about a sand dune on the aviation chart near Mosca Pass, so after a brief stop to stretch and give Tripp a little more fuel we saw the sand rippling at the feet of the range we’d just crossed. In the high wide valley beyond there were of course more interesting scenes like this colorful collection of ponds drying in the sun.
1398 H2O+Minerals+Life
After about four hours of flying on a languorous zigzag route with innumerable vistas and famous places including some I’ve already shared in prior 4C Adventure posts, we were again over magnificent Monument Valley.
1759 Monument Valley
It’s not just the towering spires and buttes we enjoy in Tripp there, but quiet marvels in the surrounding area like this shady spot next to a dune that few outsiders ever see.
1769 Oasis
Continuing on a now more direct path toward Flagstaff I was struck by this line defining two quite different vast areas of desert.
1845 Divided Desert
We got another look at some of the ruins in the Wupatki National Monument, looking similar to Chaco and other ancient sites in the 4C region.
1867 Wupatki Ruins
Then to complete the vast variety of landscapes from Denver to Flagstaff was this moonscape of cinder cones close to our day’s destination.
1876 Volcanic Vista
In just a few short hours, our hearts had been treated to a thrilling array of experiences and we were ready to explore Flagstaff before settling into our last night of dreams before home.
John & Anne Wiley 
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