Miramar Ranch North, San Diego, CA

Ask someone in Miramar Ranch North where they live and the answer is usually Scripps Ranch. The city treats this northern half of Scripps Ranch as its own planning area in San Diego, sitting above Lake Miramar with Mira Mesa to the west and Rancho Bernardo and Poway beyond its northern and eastern edges. The plan for this part of the ranch was adopted in 1980, so the homes here belong to the newer side of Scripps Ranch, planned tracts built in the decades after rather than the older streets around the lake. The city sums up the setting as eucalyptus and hiking trails, and the tall gum trees do line many of the slopes. Outdoor time starts with Spring Canyon Neighborhood Park on Scripps Poway Parkway and the trails that run through the canyons between tracts. The big draw is a short drive south. Lake Miramar, in the Scripps Ranch neighborhood next door, has a paved loop of just under five miles that serves as the area's running track. Buon Cibo on Spring Canyon Road is an Italian market and deli that bakes its bread each morning, slices salumi to order and keeps a wall of more than 100 wines at retail prices, with Lasagna Sunday by preorder. Public House 131, across the street, pours 22 rotating taps from local breweries like Alpine and Societe, and the menu goes past burgers to schnitzel, lobster rolls and a cinnamon roll bread pudding. Errands in Miramar Ranch North run through Scripps Ranch Marketplace on Scripps Poway Parkway, where Vons sits among a long list of quick-service chains. Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary is inside the neighborhood. Westbound, the parkway meets Interstate 15 within minutes, and eastbound it runs into Poway. Most dining away from Spring Canyon Road is chain food, and there is no rail nearby, so the car does a lot of work. Weekend mornings still have a rhythm of their own, with bread from Buon Cibo in one hand and a run around Lake Miramar penciled in for later.