Life at Altis: Where Summer Vacation Never Ends

“Wednesday is flinking!” she says, laughter and conversation in the background. Flinking? “It’s floating and drinking. And beforehand, some of us get healthy and do water aerobics.”

“This is resort living,” says Danny. “We’ll go away for two weeks and when we come home, we’re still on vacation.”

Life in the Friend Zone

Vickie says she and Danny—who have lived in Santa Clarita for 41 years, 23 of them in a house just 8 miles from Altis at Skyline—were always busy, active people. But at Altis, she explains, even while they spend more quality time together, they’ve also become more social, bonding with neighbors over a shared stage of life with few pressing daily demands. “We’re all in that same groove so to speak, that every day is Saturday,” she says.

“We currently have a lot of neighbors that lived within two or three blocks of our old house,” Danny marvels. “We didn’t know them!” They made friends through the social calendar, packed with outings like Dodger games. “We go to a lot of events,” says Danny, who has also become the de facto neighborhood handyman, putting his contracting skills to use. “There’s always something to do here.”

Vickie serves on the Altis social committee, a resident committee that plans the calendar in conjunction with the Altis lifestyle manager. Plus, each month the committee tries to plan a “main event,” she says. Sometimes, those incorporate adult kids and grandkids into the mix, since many of their neighbors moved to Altis from out of town to be near family. A recent Memorial Day poolside BBQ was multigenerational, “it could have been a commercial” for Altis living, Vickie laughs.

“The social life is a bonus,” Vickie says. “The icing on the cake.”

Future Friendly

As deep as the couple has dived into Altis’ social scene, they had never considered moving to a 55+ community before Vickie received an Altis email. In fact, with the pool and The VuePoint still under construction at the time, Danny says they had “no idea” what the activities would be like. They were simply searching for a single-story home since the stairs in their old home had started to give them trouble.

The single-story home they fell in love with at Altis was ideal, personalized at the Design Studio with features Vickie now says she can’t imagine not having, like soft-close drawers in the “incredible” kitchen and a big walk-in shower. Located on a cul-de-sac right next to the pickleball court (where Danny plays daily), it was as sizeable as their former home but with the single-story flow of their dreams. Plus, they’ve got a Gensmart® Suite, which they realized would make aging-in-place easier one day. When they eventually get old.

For now, it’s a guest room and Vickie’s office, adorned with her ceramic chicken collection. Danny has an office in the house, too, and they love each having their own personal retreat, so Vickie can quietly play games, and Danny—who Vickie calls Mr. Social Butterfly—can talk on the phone. The one word Danny uses to describe Altis life? “Fun.”

And for Vickie, it’s, “heaven.” The mix of ease at home and a full social calendar is just perfect. “It serves all my needs, but when I need to be by myself, it serves that need, too.”