I am sad...I hate to be this way...we are losing our view of the hills.

[Warpy]

6. One great thing about my own mountain view

is that the mountains here were formed by uplift to the east and are sheer cliffs in many places, completely unsuitable for some yuppie monstrosity to be built to foul up everybody's view. It's also a bad neighborhood and I doubt if anything is going to increase our property values that much.

The hills to the west are black nubbins, remains of a line of ancient volcanoes that erupted when the rift valley first split apart. They're choked with yuppie barns and a lot of people were secretly gleeful when the state's volcanoes were reclassified from extinct to dormant.

A widow's walk/sky deck above your own house sounds like the best option for you. It might help you sell when/if the time comes because there will be something to look at besides an ugly two story house.

Good luck.