The Neighborhood that Never Was

One of the fun things we did while were were staying with Larry & Gaye at Santa Rosa beach for Thanksgiving was to drive around exploring.  One chilly afternoon we left the kids at the house (happily watching cable tv!) and went for a long drive.  It was really interesting, since the beaches we go to seem to have beach houses that are all fairly similar to one another.  We passed communities that had formal houses,

Italian houses, tiny houses, and French houses, and one that had all white houses.

We drove all through Seaside, the community where "the Truman Show" was filmed.  They houses were miniscule--many with only 1 bedroom, yet they cost millions of dollars.  We went into Seaside's grocery store so that we could see where the other half shops.  It was nice to know where we could get our Belgian White Chocolate Strawberry Curls if we ran out!

The store was kind of L shaped, and the inner wall was covered with shelves and merchandise.  It was really amazing.

Our favorite explore (as Winnie the Pooh would say), happened closer to home.  One afternoon the four of us loaded into the golf cart and drove around different neighborhoods near the beach.  After looking at lots of fun beach houses, Larry announced that we were now going to their favorite place.

And then we drove into the twilight zone. Seriously.

He drove the golf cart through a narrow lane and we emerged onto a residential street.  It was a lovely neighborhood.  There were common areas with green freshly mown grass and benches, and a tower in the middle of the neighborhood where you could climb to the top and see the ocean.

There was a lovely bridge over a narrow part of the lake and still more neighborhood on the other side.

There were street signs and walking paths.

There were two gazebos with boat houses underneath them.  The one that we went to was furnished with beautiful rocking chairs and had lots of small tables with chairs.  (Larry and Gaye like to go and sit in those rocking chairs on Sundays to read.)

There were not one but two beautiful pools.  The pools were surrounded by lounge chairs and umbrellas waiting to be opened.

There was a small shelter on one side of each pool that Larry called "the meditation room."  It had a large wall waterfall in it.

There was a larger shelter on another side of each pool that had a big fireplace in it.

I wanted to swim in these pools.  Well, except for the fact that it was pretty chilly.  But they were both beautiful and inviting.

I'm sure you're wondering why this neighborhood was the twilight zone.  Well, have you noticed the one thing I haven't described?  That's right.  There were NO houses.  Ok, there was one house.  Way on the edge of the neighborhood, with no one living in it.  But other than that one, not a single house.  There were lovely entrances,

and a guard house that houses a guard to chase Larry and Gaye off of the rocking chairs every Sunday.  But other than that, nada.

Seriously, the strangest thing we've ever seen.
Or not seen, as it were.