631 Sylvan Way, Emerald Hills, CA
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The best way to get here depends on where you are coming from and how adventurous you're feeling.
General note: the streets around our house are twisty and narrow. Drive slowly and carefully and be particularly vigilant for oncoming cars.
Emerald Hill tees onto Jefferson. Turn left. Jefferson will almost immediately turn to the right so you'll be going the same direction you were before.
Here's where it starts to get tricky. You will shortly come to a five-way intersection. You want to make a slight right turn onto Lakeview way. If you count streets starting from your left, Lakeview is the third street. (It's also the first street, but that will take you in the wrong direction.)
Now you want to stay on Lakeview until you get to Sylvan. This is trickier than it sounds. You will pass a number of forks and intersections, and the street naming conventions and signage seem almost deliberately designed to make people get lost. Here's the sequence:
The first intersection is with Hamilton way. Bear left to stay on Lakeview.
You will next pass Woodland Way on your right. Go straight.
Next is a fork at Hillcrest Way. Bear right.
Next is a fork at Oak Knoll Drive. Bear left.
Next is a fork at Vernal Way. Bear right. (You can actually get there by taking Vernal, and your GPS will probably want you to take this route because it's slightly shorter, but it will require you to negotiate a very gnarly hairpin turn once you get to Sylvan.)
Pass Midland Way, which will be on your left.
Take your next left onto Sylvan. (Google maps actually has this part of the road marked as Vernal, but the sign says Sylvan. In any case, take your first left after passing Midland.)
You will almost immediately get to a tee. Turn left. You will then almost immediately get to a fork with Vernal. (This is the gnarly hairpin.) Bear right to stay on Sylvan.
In about 150 yards you will get to Glenloch. Turn right to stay on Sylvan.
Our house will be on your right in about another 200 yards.
Take an IMMEDIATE right onto Lakeview Way. Take your second right onto Sylvan (it's about half a mile. Keep a sharp lookout for the turn. It's easy to miss.) Our house will be on the left after about a mile, though it will probably feel like longer than that. You will know you're getting close when you see a sign that says "End County Road." This is a short stretch of Sylvan that is actually private, and it's noticably narrower and more poorly maintained than the rest of Sylvan. Our house is about a hundred yards past this rough stretch.
Take Alameda de las Pulgas to Edgewood Road (about 1/4 mile). Turn left.
After about half a mile, turn left onto Cordilleras. Note that this is NOT the same intersection as the one mentioned above under "Coming from the north on I-280." Cordilleras intersects Edgewood twice. The second intersection -- the wrong one coming from this direction -- has a traffic light and a no-left-turn sign. If you get there, your best bet is to go another 500 yards to the entrance of Edgewood Park and make a U-turn there, then follow the directions above as if you were coming from the north on I-280.)
If you've made the proper turn onto Cordilleras, it will make a gentle 90-degree turn to the RIGHT. Turn left at Canyon Road, then take your first right onto Oak Knoll Drive.
At this point you have a choice. There is a short but complicated route or a longer but simpler route. The longer, simpler route is:
Turn right on Summit Drive. Unlike most of the roads in our neighborhood, which are narrow and twisty, Summit is wide and (mostly) straight. What you want to do is basically point yourself up the hill and drive in a more or less straight line until you tee onto Lakeview Way. What makes it tricky is that along the way the name of the street changes twice. So you're going to be going from Summit to Lakeview (yes, it's the same street that you will eventually be turning on to) to West Summit. Once you are on West Summit the road will make a wide turn to the left and tee back onto Lakeview. It sounds harder then it is. Basically, just drive uphill, ignore the street signs and don't make any turns until you have no other choice.
Once you get to the Lakeview tee, turn right on Lakeview, then take an IMMEDIATE right onto Handley Trail. (It will almost feel as if you've just made a U-turn to the right.) In about 50 yards you will reach another tee. Turn left. This is still Handley Trail. In about 100 yards you will reach a fork. Bear right. This is Sylvan way. In about 150 yards you will reach Glenloch Way. Turn right to stay on Sylvan. Our house is on the right in about another 200 yards.
The shorter route is not that much more complicated to drive, but it's much more complicated to describe, and it's much easier to get lost because of the way the roads are named. We strongly recommend not attempting this route without a GPS, or at least a map. Basically you want to point yourself uphill and drive until you get to Lakeview Way. You will be going more or less straight, but you will transition from Oak Knoll Drive to Lake Blvd to Park Road to Woodland Place (you actually have to turn right to get onto Woodland) to Lakview.
Once you get to Lakeview you will need to execute the following maneuvers in close succession:
Good luck!