Spiders and Snakes and Hills.....oh my!!!!

Spiders and Snakes and Hills......oh my!!  Well maybe I should clarify - one spider (albeit a large tarantula), one snake (ok well maybe it was a "little" snake, but it was still a snake.  Oh and maybe I failed to mention it was DEAD, but it was still a snake...haha) but lots of hills - yes, the hills were plentiful!!!

Welcome Back!!!!  After a brief few days off due to work, we are back at our quest to WALK EVERY STREET IN YUCAIPA!!!  This morning we started off at 7:00am for a 5.84 mile walk that started at YAPS, went up Sand Canyon (past Crafton Hills College) and then down into The Reserve and finished on Tennessee and 16th.

This walk had many hills but is a GREAT 1.5 hour walk.  Definitely be aware of your surroundings during this walk, because several areas have you walking on the street (gotta love our areas without sidewalks).   None the less, we never felt unsafe and there is plenty of room in bike lanes to walk.

Monday we will be meeting at 4:15pm at the Park & Ride by Arco and walking the streets up behind the Arco and up off Overcrest.  This route will include a couple larger hills but we would love anyone to join us - if you want.

We are lucky to have such a nice community college right in our backyard.

THE RESERVE..... A nice community in the foothills below Crafton Hills College.
These homes are really decorated cute for Halloween and have some beautiful landscaping as well.

At first I thought this was a Halloween decoration, but once it raised his backside at me, I knew I was wrong!!!
My first experience with a tarantula!!

SEE..... I told you there was a snake.  Yes its small and Yes its dead.....buts its still a snake!!

Did you know this water tank was down in this area????  I sure didn't!!!!  The things we find when we slow down and "look" at our community, rather than flying right by it in our cars!!

Some of the cute Halloween decorations we saw along our walk!

CHAPMAN HEIGHTS.......... DONE!!!!

Well.....WE DID IT.....  We finished walking every street in the Chapman Heights area.  I know this is just a small area of Yucaipa, but it was still an accomplishment!!!  Today was a hot one, but God smiled down on us and brought in this beautiful cloud covering just in time for our walk.  

God's beautiful cloud covering - just in time for our walk!!!

We started at Chapman Heights Elementary School and headed west on Chapman Heights Road.  Going through the last little track of homes off of Comstock, we got some breathtaking views of our community.  We ended our walk tonight by continuing west on Chapman Heights Road until 13th Street, we went down past YAPS (believe it or not - no dogs we barking) and then we proceeded to walk all the little streets inside Yucaipa High School (although they aren't "named" streets, Jill Caballero decided we had to do them)!!!  A nice 4.62 mile walk.  Some hills initially and definitely would be a bear if you had to walk all the way back - we parked one car at the beginning of our route and one at the end.  

Sadly, we will not be walking over the next few days (at least not in Yucaipa), as work is sending me to Sacramento.  But Jill and I will be back at it first thing Saturday morning in our quest to WALK EVERY STREET IN YUCAIPA!!!  See you then!!!

Up behind the Chapman Heights community, is a nice, well-maintained path.  If you haven't done it yet, I would highly recommend this walk.  Go with a buddy and park one car at each end :-)  

  I love the sidewalks along Chapman Heights Road.  Well shaded and beautifully landscaped.  This is a great community to walk in.  Everyone we pass is very friendly and, on a side note, we did not encounter any stray or dangerous dogs along any of our routes

This beautiful little sitting area is fairly new, I believe.   It's towards the furtherest west entrance into the trail behind the homes in Chapman Heights and even has a water area, in case you are walking your dog.

 

Great View of our town from the top of these streets.

It's US...... The J-Walkers or Jill Squared (as you know us)!!

    

YHS football practice in full force!!!!

The newest addition to this area is the new baseball park.  Still working on it, but it looks almost complete!!!  

My birthday walk......

Yep... got it right.  It's my birthday and the first thing I did was go on a 4.5 mile in Stanley Ranch.  Yes, we left the Chapman Heights area today and ventured over to Stanley Ranch.  I thought it was because Jill Caballero wanted a change of scenery, but actually she was scheming with my family (that lives in that area) to have a surprise Birthday Breakfast for me this morning!!

But enough about me getting old and let's get back to our quest to Walk Every Street in Yucaipa.  Starting off of Grape Street we went up and down and around every street in the Stanley Ranch area.  These large, custom homes are BEAUTIFUL!!!  Beautifully landscaped and gorgeous homes!!  It was such a peaceful walk this morning, with the birds chirping, the rosters crowing and goats baa'ing (is that what they do).    There are definitely some major elevation changes along this route, so you will for sure feel the calorie burn, but if you can handle the hills, it is a beautiful walk!!

Our sunrise from the top of one of the streets in Stanley Ranch.

I simply love this plant.  Have no idea what it is called, but the vibrate purple flowers are beautiful.

Jill Caballero likes her succulents and really loved this cactus type plant.  Nice drought resistance landscape in this yard! 

Found this little cul-de-sac off of one of the side streets in the area and this is their view of the valley from their side yard!  All the little beauties of our community!

Sunday we will not be walking but we will be back at it Monday with one last route in Chapman Heights to finish that area.  See you then!!

Hills, Hills and more HILLS........

Today's walk was AMAZING!!!  Amazing views, amazing hills and amazing heat!!!  Great challenging 5.75 mile route.  Left Chapman Heights Elementary School and did every street north of Chapman Heights Road and east of Brandon Road (with the addition of a new street that we grabbed but didn't show up on our map because it is brand new).  It's really nice to see some new building going on in this part of town!!  The homes, as usual, are simply beautiful and lots of cute fall/Halloween decorations!!!  Definitely a great spot to take the kids trick-or-treating!!! 

I can honestly say though, if you are a "casual walker" and not out for a serious calorie burn, I would avoid this route.  At least five different inclines along these streets - but, if you give it a try, you will see some amazing views from up on Old Trail Drive!!!!

Aren't we beautiful.....NOT!!!  But the view sure is.....AMAZING!!!

This is from a little cul-de-sac off of Old Trail Road!!!  AMAZING!!!

We pass tons and tons of baby lizards along our walks, but this guy was at least 18" long and quicker than heck!!  Glad I was able to catch this one picture before he scurried off into the plants!!

 Tomorrow (Friday) we will not be walking :-(  But we will be up in the Stanley Ranch area first thing Saturday morning!!!  I am not sure of our exact starting location yet, so if you are interested in joining us, just send me a PM on FB and I will let you know once I know.

Happy Walking......... and thank you all for your encouragement as we continue our quest to WALK EVERY STREET IN YUCAIPA!!!!

WE'RE FAMOUS..........

WE'RE FAMOUS........ While walking our route in Chapman Heights, we actually were recognized as "the two gals walking EVERY street in Yucaipa"!!!! That so made our day :-)

Today we finished the lower part of Chapman Heights (south of Chapman Heights Road & south of Oak Glen Road).  After literally sitting all day at work, it sure feels good to do these walks.  This was a nice 4 mile walk with some slight inclines.  A quaint little golf course community - nice sidewalks and tree lined streets to provide a nice amount of shade.  We started and ended at the Del Taco on 10th Street - and we added another .12 cents to the treasures we have found along our routes (I found the dime - Jill Caballero only found two cents....haha)!!!

Thank you Karen Tuttle & Barbara Costello for joining us on our quest to WALK EVERY STREET IN YUCAIPA!!

Tomorrow we will be meeting at 4:15pm at Chapman Heights Elementary School.  This route will include a couple of challenging inclines but should give us a nice calorie burn!!  Hope to see you there!!!

A lunchtime walk and A PIG.........

           

A little over 4 miles during our lunch break today.  We saw some weird alley type streets (with lots of cute houses on them), experienced our first two mobile home parks (yes, Jill says we have to walk every street inside the mobile home parks too) and we got to see.......A PIG!!!!  

Park Terrace was our first mobile home park we walked through.  This i an older park but we were very impressed with how clean it was.  A nice , small, established park - with a cute little grassy area.

Yucaipa Land Yacht Harbor.....  OMG, don't let the view from the street fool you.  Walk 50 feet into this mobile home park and it opens up into this beautiful oasis.  Beautiful double wide mobile homes, beautiful landscaping.  A real nice senior park.  I drive by this park 4-6 times a day and never realized how pretty it was.

  

A PIG..... who would have thought it?  Well, this is Yucaipa isn't it?  Doesn't everyone have a big black pig laying under their trampoline???  This big guy was sound asleep and, sometimes when you walk by (but not today), you will see his little turtle friend right next to him!!!

Tomorrow we will be meeting at 4:15pm at the Del Taco on 10th Street.  Our walk will take us up into Chapman Heights - just west of 10th Street.  Come join us if you want.

Dark Clouds Can't Stop Us

Dark clouds and a slight drizzle can't stop our journey!!!  After a break on Sunday, we picked up where we left off in Chapman Heights.  Parked at El Pollo Loco and traveled down the Blvd and up 10th Street.  Jill Caballero decided to start a collection of golf balls that she found all along this route (see picture below) and between the two of us, we became .08 cents richer :-)

This route took us through a great little community named ABERDEEN.  My son has two friends that live in this community so I've driven here a lot but when you walk these streets you see a lot of different things.  For example, this little track of homes has a lovely dirt path that run through the track,behind the homes and looks like such a peaceful walk.  They also have a quaint little park in the complex as well.

One note of caution, if you walk this route, many of the trees and bushes need to be trimmed back to allow for pedestrians to pass by without getting whacked by the limbs - and since the trees are more mature in this area, they have lifted a lot of the sidewalks, so be sure a look down often and LIFT YOUR FEET.  

We anticipate three more days in Chapman Heights before we have finished this area.  Tomorrow though, we can't walk after work, so we will be doing a 3-mile route during our lunchbreak starting from our office on 3rd Street.  This route includes a couple mobile home parks and we have decided that our quest is going to include ALL the streets inside ALL mobile home parks in Yucaipa as well.

HAPPY WALKING!!!!

(Our finds along the walk)