Fitness * Street * Artistic *

From State Highway 99, exit to the east on the Mineral King Highway, State Highway 198. Take the first right turn, Plaza Drive, following the signs to Plaza Park, next to Visalia Municipal Airport. Park in the provided lot. You will be skating on the marked bike lane of Plaza Drive.

This is a fitness skate for the road-ready in-liner, best done in the cooler morning and evening hours. Your tradeoff for unobstructed views of California's produce business is the absence of shade trees most of the way. Begin skating to the right on wide Plaza Drive at the small park's parking lot. Plaza Drive circles to the south past the park and rodeo grounds, then west to meet up with Hangars Way, which leads back toward the airport. (The airport is not exactly bustling with traffic, and you may not see or hear a plane at all.) Plaza Drive turns left here, and now you have a broad view of several Central Valley agricultural enterprises to the south and west, with a shady golf course across the street on your left. Continue down Plaza Drive as it curves gradually east. An orchard replaces the golf course across the street, and as you reach its far side at Shirk Road, the painted bike lane comes to an end. For skaters who like to explore the smooth pavement of new neighborhoods, cross to the north side of Plaza Drive before you cross Shirk, and continue on the sidewalk along Walnut Street to the entrance of the Savannah Heights housing development, a block up on the left. As this neighborhood grows, the bike lane may be extended to Walnut Street.