(sub)Urban Exploration

I'm fascinated with urban exploration - checking out places that are slightly off the beaten path and are lightly tread. Thankfully daughter Celeste has the same adventure bug in her.

A few weeks ago we took our tandem around the neighborhood and stopped at an empty lot. Not sure exactly why a home wasn't built there - it's really no smaller than the other micro lots here in beige acres.
Behind the lot is a drainage ditch that runs the length of our neighborhood, separating it from the neighborhood to the east of us. When we first saw it, we only went back a hundred feet or so. Since we were pressed for time I promised her we'd return - and Friday evening we did just that.
We had a great time checking out this forgotten space that's right in the heart of suburbia. We found a small bamboo grove......a lemon tree with plenty of ripening fruit that's inaccessible from the back yard where the tree resides...
...an Aim-A-Flame (or rather an Aim-A-Flame knockoff)...
...plenty of curious doggies...
...all while searching for snails, slugs and bugs. We played up there until Allie called us home for dinner - perfect timing as the grrrl was getting hungry from the adventure.
Granted the total out-and-back hike was less than 2 miles, but for Celeste it might as well have been 200.