Hidden Meadows, CA

Hidden Meadows is a mesa-top community in inland North County San Diego, sitting on the east side of Interstate 15 just above the northern edge of Escondido. Valley Center's farm country lies farther east, and the coast at Carlsbad is reachable by freeway to the west. It is unincorporated, so the county runs things and there is no city hall or downtown. Without a main street, the closest thing to a town center is The Welk, a 450-acre resort at the base of the hills on Lawrence Welk Drive. It is the one thing people drive here for from elsewhere. The property has two golf courses, eight pools, a spa and a theater with its own box office for live shows, plus the Canyon Grille for dinner. Up the slope, Hidden Meadows reads as a scatter of custom houses, gated subdivisions, older manufactured homes and open lots. Rimrock Estates claims a hilltop behind a guard gate, and other homes line the fairways. Building sites are still for sale across the hills, and newer duplexes and townhomes have gone up as well. A good casual meal nearby may come from a truck. Cocina Los Nanos parks on Mesa Rock Road near the Deer Springs exit off Interstate 15 and turns out birria-style barbacoa tacos, carne asada and surf-and-turf burritos, with salsas that regulars praise. Past that, dinner plans usually point south into Escondido. Getting anywhere means the freeway. From the bottom of the hill, Interstate 15 heads south through Escondido toward downtown San Diego, and the coast is an easy westward trip from there. Bigger shopping, medical offices and the nearest supermarkets are all down in Escondido. Life up here runs on long drives, with Escondido handling nearly every errand. People accept it for elevation, room between houses, and the long views west from a hill that most freeway drivers pass without noticing.