Coming up on the 91 freeway from the 55.
The mountains in the background would be the San Gabriel Mountains.
Looking over the Santa Ana Canyon.
Yorba Linda and Placentia both are at the base of those hills you see forefront in the background, and as you head east (we're looking northeast here), it actually goes into the hills.
To the right of the photograph, sort of at the top of a hill, you'll see a white mark. This house, as I understand it, was once being built by Arnold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger, who then ran into the local homeowners association. I think he's since sold it.
Exiting at Imperial Highway.
Those who know Randy Newman's song "I Love LA" will note that this is the very same road that Mr. Newman was singing about at the beginning of the song. It actually terminates about another mile or so south of here - if we had turned right, we'd be heading back into the canyons in Orange. In the background is Sierra Peak.
Construction, of course!
This is the entry point to the part of Imperial Highway that was renamed the Richard Nixon Parkway, after the former president of the same name, who was born in Yorba Linda. (It was at one point, depending on who you asked, either the Yorba Linda Freeway or the Richard Nixon Freeway, but the city of Yorba Linda decided they didn't want a freeway running through their town.)
This construction here is underway for a very specific reason. At this intersection is Orangethorpe Avenue to our left, Esperanza Road to our right, and behind us, an at-grade rail crossing that is, from what I understand, the busiest in the western United States - all rail traffic proceeding east from the Los Angeles BNSF rail yard and back passes through this corridor, as well as two different routings for the Metrolink (the local inter-county commuter train), as well as an Amtrak run. What they're doing here is preparing the road to pass over the intersection, and create an interchange to allow traffic to make connections to the road.
