Favorite Runs - Orchard Hills

Today's favorite run is Orchards Hills. This is a beautiful 5-6 mile loop around the Orchard Hills parkway. Orchard Hills is an Irvine Company development that only has an apartment complex, shopping center (Pavillions, CVS, Wells Fargo, etc.), and a newly built, beautiful K-8 school. This will be Mark's middle school when it opens for 5th and 6th grades in September.

From our neighborhood, I turn right onto Portola Pkwy -- AKA "Portola Dragstrip" for the late night racing that goes on year-round. Fortunately, this summer Portola is being torn up to add new drainage pipes so the racing has subsided dramatically.

When you first reach Orchard Hills school (shown below), that can be a 3 mile loop, or you can run on its dirt track behind the school (it was locked up this morning or I would have taken photos). The view from the track is lovely. You can see clear out to Newport.

Continue past the school along the beautiful walkways lined by avocado orchards (hence "Orchard Hills!").


Can you see all the million-dollar homes built here? Neither can we!! Irvine Company planned this development to be nothing but $M+ homes, but then the market tanked and the builders cancelled their projects. So now the area lays fallow with lots of sage brush. Starter attached homes (1600 sq ft) with no yards were priced at $1.3M (Cough, Cough). If I'm going to pay $1.3M for an attached home, it better have an ocean in front of it.


A view from the highest point on the run and the 5 mile turn-around. In the near distance is Northwood High School. In the far distance are the Tustin Marine Corp Air Station hangers famously shown in many movies "Pearl Harbor" and many commercials.

More great views out to Irvine business center near the 405 and John Wayne airport.

Northwood High school....

The foothills above Orchard Hills. These are the hills that were burning during the October 2007 fires that consumed Southern California.

The fun playground at Settlers Park next to Orchard Hills School. My children love to play here because they have a paved scooter/tricycle route.

Finished! 5 fun miles before the heat came on! It's 100 degrees today! Swimming -- take us away!

Favorite Runs - Peters Canyon Trail

This morning I ran one of my favorite runs -- the Peters Canyon Trail. Finishing the run with a 1/2 mile dash up Citrus Ranch hill makes the total run 7.5 miles.

There are several other runs inside Peters Canyon Regional Park, but I call those the Peters Canyon Loop (extra 5 miles), the Peters Canyon Hills (extra 2-3 miles but feels like extra 6 because of all the steep hills), and the Big Red Hill Run (same distance but twice as painful...you'll see why below). Below are the highlights and beautiful sights I see on this run in the peaceful mornings.

Running by Peters Canyon Elementary school garden.

The million-dollar mansions lining the jogging paths. Beautiful homes...beautiful prices.


The Peters Canyon area before the start of the trail. I often see coyotes here. It is very cool and refreshing in the morning (and so quiet!).
Here we are at the trail head. Lots of mountain bikers ride these trails.

The oh-so-smelly latrines by the trail head. I am amazed when I see people actually go in & out of these. But Orange County Parks does keep them cleaned and serviced regularly, so perhaps they are less scary than they smell. (I'll never know!)

Trail to the mini-grove...

A modern architecture house that backs onto the trail...very pretty. I watched it built over the past two years. It has a steel frame and industrial doors (like at a school).

The last uphill stretch....got to run to the fence...

Yea! Gotta touch the fence!! This is the 3.5 mile turn-around. From here you can start the Loop trail and add another fun 5 miles to the run (but not that often!)

Beautiful morning sunrise over Peters Canyon reservoir (but I have never gone into the brush because lots of rattlesnakes bed near the water).

Big Red Hill....straight up and so named for the red dirt. I have never been able to RUN up this hill. I usually make it half way before my legs burn too much. You can several people on the hill using it for their morning work-out.

The mini-grove....a sweet sight along this peaceful trail. This is also the 5 mile turn-around.


Sunrise along the jogging trails back through Tustin Ranch.....

Pretty bougainvillea growing along the trail sides....

Top off the end of the run with a thigh-burning jog up Citrus Ranch Park hill to the overlook. Those are lemon trees in the groves.

View from the top of Citrus Ranch hill! Isn't it beautiful! Just below is Tustin Ranch golf course (about $75 for a round on a weekday, $150 on the weekends). From this hill, you can see all the way to Newport Beach. A tiny white dot in the distance is the Newport Beach temple (but I can't get a closer view from my camera). This is actually a pretty clear morning so it is nice to be able to see this far. The brown haze in the sky is the "marine layer" that usually comes clear up to our foothills and makes the morning skies grey.

Yes, I finished another long run!

At the finish line! The STOP sign behind our house! It feels so good to reach the end!

My private bathroom at the park. I go in here to wash my hands and freshen up at the end of each run. Then I stretch my legs at the park. It is the perfect finish to a nice run!

Done for another day! Have a great day!

Wendy's Birthday - July 5th

July 5th started with church in the morning. Wendy and Boyd gave the Sacrament meeting talks, which meant we had to be early to church! The children had lots of fun telling everyone at church that it was my birthday, and they had even more fun telling everyone how old I am! Thanks. Yesterday (July 4th), Wendy and Jocelyn got their hair cut by Nathan at their new favorite Linear Salon on Irvine. Nathan added blonder highlights to my hair and treated Jocelyn to a haircut as a birthday gift to me.


Even though it was FAST Sunday, which means it is painfully slow for those of us fasting and not able to enjoy eating treats on our birthday, the boys wanted me to make rolls so they could help crack the eggs, roll the dough, and twist the breadsticks. When they are not making a mess, they are actually getting helpful in the kitchen now!

For the afternoon, we took the children to the Newport Beach Temple to enjoy the gorgeous California summer weather (75, blue skies, perfect!!). Brent fell asleep on the drive, so Boyd had to wake him up. He's not quite ready to open his eyes yet, but when he does open them, he runs around the rest of the afternoon! Before we left the temple grounds, Brent insisted on knocking on the temple doors "to see if Jesus is home, so I can give him a hug." When Jesus did not answer Brent's knocking, Brent decided, "Jesus is out visiting and blessing people."

Wendy with Mark, Jocelyn and Blake by the Celestial room windows of the Newport Beach Temple.Mark (10), Jocelyn (8 1/2), Blake (6 1/2), and Brent (proudly 4) by the Newport Beach Temple.

Cheryl Wilkinson treated Wendy to a delicious homemade red velet cake with cream cheese frosting, which Jocelyn and Wendy LOVED! The children loved putting '42' on the cake, even though I only wanted the '4' since Brent had told me in the morning, "Mommy, since today is your burthday, now you're FOUR like me!"