Lomnpoc, California

Lompoc is a town of approximately 30,000 nestled in the hills about an hour northwest of Santa Barbara, CA, and nearly totally dependent, economically, on the rise and fall of activity at nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base, which at one time was being groomed as a western launch port for NASA's space shuttle. It's a friendly place with unassuming residents. Though I've moved away, many elements of this area continue to draw me: the wide open miles between here and any other outpost of modern life, La Purisima mission, the flower and vegetable fields, the ocean and, probably as much as anything, the brightly scoured skies and nearly ever-present wind that bring the scent of sweet peas and stock in the spring and summer, and that seem to waft story ideas to me like pollen.

Lompoc is a good twenty miles off the main highway, on the road to nowhere
in particular, which is one of the things we like best about it.

Late spring flower fields. In the past, 85% of the world's flower seeds (sweet peas, alyssum, stock, marigolds, etc.) were grown here.

Fields of stock. At night their spicy scent drifts into town on the wind.

Barn against a hillside at the edge of town

Late spring hillside covered with eucalyptus and Queen Anne's lace

Looking south from the flower fields toward the hills

Where the area meets the Pacific Ocean. The land is a part of Vandenberg
Air Force Base.

The beach at Surf. The undertow is strong, so sightseeing and beach-
walking are safer bets than getting wet.