Ygnacio Valley Rd, Walnut Creek

With an exit from Highway 680 just past the 24 merge, there is just too many stores and highlights here to list them all so I'll just take a few of the highlights to give you a sense of what it's like.

First, you have to remember that this one of the major arteries taking your through Walnut Creek and up into the hills before you hit Highway 4 heading to Antioch, Pittsburgh etc. Because of this, Ygnacia is a wide road with three lanes going in each direction at most points--it even has a center meridean to keep cars form crashign itno eachother and to make it so that jay walkers have an island of safety to stop at when trying to cross. Also, because it is used by lots of commuters it gets heavy traffic during the expected commute times in the expected commute direction. Try not to get stuck here between 6 and 10 am and or 3 to 7 pm. (Not fun!)

However, there are also lots of attracttions to this area. Near downtown Walnut Creek, you can find a Target and the Bart Station. There's fast food and gas, of coruse, and places to get your car fixed.

Further east you come to John Muir Medical Center, one of the really great hospital in the area (and my birth place). Right by there is my mom's Vet Hospital, Valley Veterinary. There is this really great doc there so I take my cat's there too, (even when I lived in Berkeley). Heather Farms is right there; if you have kids that's the place to take them for baseball, summer camp or swimming.

Further down it starts to get fairly suburban though you will also find a museum (Shadelands--I have no idea what's inside.) and the local headquarters for Safeway Corporation--the supermarket chain.

As you go up into the hills you get a view of Concord to north and Walnut Creek to the south--both rising out of what look like a forest of trees. (There sure is a lot of green in Walnut Creek--strange given that Contra Costa County is also supposed to be the third worst air polluted county in CA.) It gets pretty rural up here despite all the construction and the homes seeming to rise up daily. You will see cows and lots of green fields in the spring. These hills are also home to Cal State Hayward's East Bay campus. (It looks a lot like an industrial park, but its nice little campus if you're a working adult looking to take an interesting class or brush up on some skills.)

Overall, if you need something you can probably find it on Ygnacio Valley Road.