Eucalyptus Avenue, in the Silicon Valley town of San Carlos, California, is just two blocks long, but it draws crowds every year to see the over-the-top Christmas decorations residents construct on and around their homes.
Travel + Leisure sent photographer Ryan Young to document the decorations and some of the people who come out to see them. We begin with two shots of Young’s favorite house: The red Jeep in the driveway has been converted into Santa’s sleigh, and in front of it are reindeer, soaring into the air, ready to pull the Jeep into the night sky.
While most decorations were not preparing to take flight, they are no less spectacular. Several houses are saturated with lights from the roof down to the front lawn. One has a Christmas tree taller than the house it sits in front of. Another has a ball of light in the basketball hoop. Even a traffic cone is wrapped in pine branches.
Over the five hours Young spend on Eucalyptus Avenue, he met families who had driven in from neighboring cities to see the display (and some even put down their selfie sticks to ask if he would take a family photo). He also met the residents—who invited him into their parties—that make this the holiday spectacular it is.
