Selecting today’s Best of Tour home made for a difficult decision. Not because there were too many intriguing homes to choose from, or great deals to be had, but rather that there were none which offered any attributes we found remarkable or outstanding.

I don’t profess to be any sort of great hiker, and today proved why. We hiked up and down more stairs today than was portrayed in the famous lithograph Relativity by M. C. Escher in 1953.

Aside from the common denominator of “mundane” in the homes we toured today, was the abundance of cliff side homes. There are two kinds of cliff-side homes—cliff hangers—you know, the sort of homes you wonder if your kids would get out the bungee cords and leap over the edge, and what we refer to as cliff clingers—those homes which are on the up-slope with a yard better suited for a Billy Goat.

Now don’t get us wrong, many of these very homes offer spectacular views and often little yard maintenance. But when you’re out touring 20 of them in a row, one pines for just one sprawling California ranch home.

So if you are looking for an excuse to step back from the relentless open house weekend, we recommend you get away and tune in next week. Perhaps a nice hike would be in order…