Around the Ranch

If you mark the seasons according to the school year, the summer is over. Okay, it doesn't really feel like that with the newscasters posting the excessive-heat warnings, but for a large segment of the population, a new routine is starting. It is time to stop thinking about vacation, and time to start thinking about getting back to work.

I mentioned that we have friends who have been preparing to move to Gilbert, and it has caused me to think about how I would explain the various neighborhoods in Morrison Ranch. So I thought a tour around the Ranch might be instructive for the neophytes, and a touchstone for those of us living here already ("my, how the landscape has changed since the beginning!").

Our first neighborhood is Higley Groves, which is situated east of Higley Road and north of Elliot. Technically, Higley Groves is all one neighborhood, including the part on the west side of Higley Road. They were constructed separately, however, and so I am starting with the east side first.

We sold this property in 1998, and construction started the following year; it's hard to believe that the ten year anniversary is not too far off. The trees have grown tremendously; I remember when some of the trees along the street below (Park Avenue) were mowed down in the middle of the night by some mystery vandal. Thankfully, they were young enough that the replacements have grown to the same height. Today, the entrance looks like this:



One of the distinctives of our land planning is that when you look down a street, you will mostly see something green at the end rather than a wall or a garage. Here is a sample of the "pocket park" at the end of the street; yes, there is a garage there, but it is not dominant:




I posted quite a while ago about the concept of view corridors; and here is a link to the picture I used as an illustration, which is actually from Higley Groves. Of course, that picture was taken in March when the trees were bare. Today's view shows the trees much larger, and therefore the tanks are not visible. Unless you enlarge the picture and look very hard right in the middle of the tot lot cover, that is:




There are 588 homes in this neighborhood, and the residents have an easy walk to Highland Park Elementary school within the community.

We have some good friends who live in this neighborhood, and it is, of course, one of our favorite places to meander through on a bicycle when it isn't so hot. There are a few small battles that The Mister lost in this neighborhood (don't even ASK about railings on top of the headwalls in the park space), but overall it is a lovely neighborhood, and with every year of maturity on the trees, more shady and pleasant for pedestrians.