El Dorado Hills
Home on the Range
Longtime El Dorado Hills resident looks back on nearly five decades of growth
by Jessica Laskey photo by Ryan Angel Meza
When Betty January moved to
El Dorado Hills in 1973 , she would park her horse trailer at the corner of Francisco Drive and El Dorado Hills Boulevard at Wild Oaks Park and ride her favorite horse , Sunny , up dirt roads to a friend ’ s house on Patterson Way . Once there , she ’ d tie Sunny to a split rail fence and go in and have lunch .
Today , those roads are paved . Split rail fences have been replaced by custom wrought iron gates . The open fields January used to ride across by moonlight are now the Serrano Country Club golf course . A lot has changed in the nearly 48 years
January has lived in El Dorado Hills , but she wouldn ’ t have it any other way .
“ There were less than 2,000 people here when I first moved ,” says January , who fulfilled a lifelong dream at age 40 when she bought her first horse — and subsequently purchased 8 1 / 2 acres with a lake view , which she named Saddle Oaks Ranch . January grew up riding horses with her mother , who was a champion horse jumper and shooter known as “ the next Annie Oakley .”
“ I knew the minute I moved here that the area would grow to be a big community . It had everything — it was perfectly
112 comstocksmag . com | November 2020