Atherton, Calif. is as beautiful a town as it is historic, it evokes the great California dream. It can be disquieting too. It is one of the most lavishly landscaped and lovingly maintained communities I have ever seen, the houses gated, protected by alarms and call boxes, new gabled mansions sprouting on the ruins of the fabled California ranches, the bunkhouses of the American dream in the booming post war years.

The big news in this lovely California town, blessed with almost perfect weather, lush vegetation, just south of San Francisco, north of San Jose is the invasion of the tech people, the children of Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter, all headquartered within a few miles of Atherton. Here, young people, some barely out of college are buying viable ranch houses, bulldozing them to the ground and building two story mansions with columns, gabled roofs, basements (rare in California) and giant family playrooms. The lots are small and expensive, often an acre or two, the new homes expand to fill them, they go on and on. We met one nanny who was given a new Mercedes SUV to drive her charges around during the day, their parents were rarely home. This is the land of iron grilles, brick sidewalks, tall bushes and trees blocking out neighbors and traffic. There are call boxes in front of most houses to request entry, there are no poles or wires in the streets, no potholes or bumps either.

All day, landscape workers line up outside the mansions in their battered pickups to trim the lawns and gardens of the very young and the very rich. I can’t help but think of F. Scott Fitzgerald or Gatsby in his mansion. How much does any one family really need in a world of dwindling resources?

Yet it is one of the most beautiful places, I loved walking around looking at the beautiful trees, the designed homes, the people were gracious, warm, inviting. I wonder if I were one of those Facebook millionaires, would I bulldoze an older house, and built a new one right on top of it?

I hope not, I think not, but how do I really know what I might do, I went mad and broke restoring Bedlam Farm’s old barns and I could get into a lot of trouble with an architect and millions of dollars in the bank. I would love to visit Atherton again, it was mesmerizing, a fascinating and uniquely American place, a window into the best and worst of the American idea. If I believe the novels and movies and cautionary tales, then I have to believe it won’t last, it can’t last. Those big houses seem unsustainable to me in our increasingly unsustainable world. The American Dream has always been a roller coaster.  It never stays up or fails to go down. You might think these new princes and princesses of the tech revolution would know to build smaller and more sustainable homes, structures that don’t cost a fortune in taxes and require platoons of helpers to maintain.

Or have I just grown too small and narrow and cautious as I get older? I don’t want anyone to begrudge me my dreams, and I don’t want to begrudge anyone else’s. I hope they are all happy in those big homes, even as the long time residents shake their heads at the invasion and the great changes it has wrought to Atherton. I had a wonderful time in Atherton, I have to say I loved being there.  More than once, I saw homes I would love to live in. And I am lucky that when I got home, Maria and I looked at one another and gave thanks for our small farm in our humble county. I don’t think there is anyone here who would knock our small farmhouse down to build a McFarm over it’s foundation.

It is always enriching to see other worlds, always a blessing to come home.