Walking with Chewie...

Another overcast but dry Sunday afternoon, time to take a walk with the Chewmeister into the Happy Valley hillside.  I love walking in this area for a number of reasons.  The first reason being it's ALL hills, so it tends to be quite the cardio workout.  It also settles down hyperdog, who can run trenches in the backyard (and the wood floors) if you don't get him out often doing something exhausting.

I live in the lower part of Happy Valley (south of Sunnyside rd) in a modest house, nicer then most I've lived in, and we are lucky enough to be purchasing without breaking our backs on the monthly mortgate due mainly to my wife's fiscal discipline.  It's a nice neighborhood, good for my daughter (just about the age to roam neighborhoods), and pretty nice neighbors.  However when you walk the three blocks to Sunnyside rd. and hike up the hill, THOSE neighborhoods are much different.

If you've ever heard the term McMansion, it was probably coined with Happy Valley in mind.  Huge houses on hillsides with NO yards, alot of balconies (like that makes up for no yard), cheap cookie cutter construction, and 600,000 - 1.5 million dollar price tags.  There are stairs aplenty however, so it makes for great walking.  Here is a random stairway off of 152nd.



As you can see, one can get quite a workout.  This is just one stairway out of MANY!  You get to the top of this one, and there is another tier to traverse before you're at street level.  Kind of cool in it's own way.

Here is a house standing empty (quite a few of those).  It's a four bedroom, with a seperate living area, lots of windows, and really looks kinda cool from the outside if you're into the whole cookie cutter houseplan thing.




Again, NO YARD.  The property taxes on this baby are over 5,200 bucks a year!  That my friends is almost 500.00 a month in taxes alone for a lot with NO YARD.  No wonder some of these are vacant.  Throw a 700,000+ asking price on top of that, and you'd have to be crazy or rich with a lot of disposable income to even consider it.  Ah the excesses of the housing bubble of the last 10 years.  Here is a shot of some of the backyards these babies boast.



Now, some of these actually do have yards, but for the most part you won't get any utility out of them.  Too damn steep.

Of course the reason you pay outrageous prices and taxes for a place to live (besides stupidity of course) is for the view, and I must admit it's not bad.

















But it ain't the damn ocean fer crissakes.  Not worth the money just to see my house from your balcony (it's in the middle of that mess somewhere).  And some traffic of course. 

Also, there is the creepy aspect of the whole thing, there are a LOT of finished houses that are empty, and a significant number of undeveloped lots, here is a shot of such a view.
















It might not make you feel safe during a dark night, but I will say it is a skateboarder's paradise.  Miles and miles of fresh paved roads with no one around.  I am surprised I don't see more of them up here.  Maybe there's not enough structures to do tricks off of, but there are plenty of stairs and rails.  I'm not a skateboarder myself so I'm only guessing at this.  Good for bike riding too, kind of steep in a lot of parts so maybe not for beginners.

All in all, I like walking through the area.  Chewie likes being walked up here too.  He tells me so.  We meander along, shooting pictures, recording ideas, inwardly laughing at the folly and cost of living up here and those that choose to do so.  I'm not knocking anyone in particular for their choice to live here, especially if you got a great deal.   The reality however is that for some of these asking prices you'd have to live here a long time to make a profit, and the shoddy construction will have failed you in a number of ways by then I'm sure.

Time to feed the dog again... :)