Riverdale Park, Riverdale Park, CA

Riverdale Park is a small, rural community southwest of Modesto in Stanislaus County, about a square mile and a half of flat ground, with farmland around it and the Tuolumne River close by. There is no central square or grid of subdivisions here. The roads are rural ones such as Paradise Road and Parkdale Drive, and the open farm ground between them shapes the place more than any single street does. Homes are low-key and spread apart, which is part of the quiet. The riverfront is the natural draw. Riverdale Park and Fishing Access, a three-acre county park on the Tuolumne off Parkdale Drive and northwest of where Hatch Road meets Carpenter Road, has a picnic shelter, tables, a drinking fountain, play equipment, a walking trail and a carry-in path for small boats, though it has no restrooms. The Tuolumne River Regional Park along the same river runs a long way toward Modesto, and several city parks sit a little farther out, including Bellenita Park, Rancho-Encantado Park, Fairview Park, Paradise Park and Robertson Road Park. Food and groceries come mostly from just outside the boundary. Golden West Market on Paradise Road is a small neighborhood grocery that handles quick stops, and the taquerias and seafood restaurants along Robertson Road, such as Mariscos Agustin's, Disnelandia Tacos and El Trompo, sit a few minutes off by car. Conway's Country Cherries sells produce nearby. Everything here is by car, and most trips head toward Modesto or the nearby Robertson Road area. Almost no commercial center exists inside Riverdale Park, so meals and larger grocery runs mean leaving. Mornings are the best time at the river, before the heat sets in. The farmland that gives the place its open feel also keeps services far apart. In return you get a river you can reach on foot and wide fields that run to the edge of the sky.