Otay Lake

It is amazing how different GPS's will take you different ways to get you to the same location. A week ago my GPS gave us directions to Jamul and it took about an hour. Yesterday, my sister Pam, took me to home (Jamul) and her GPS took us a whole different way. Now my GPS is about three years old and my sister's GPS is about three weeks old. She just bought a brand new Lexus SUV (GPS included). Our route took us on a country road. The route we took yesterday in Pam's Lexus took us through congested shopping and residential areas to get to the same country road. Both routes got us to the same location in about the same time but in totally different directions. The good thing about Pam's route is it took us by Otay Lake.
There are two Otay lakes the Lower Otay Lake and the Upper Otay Lake. Both are reservoirs for San Diego. The lower Otay Reservoir is an artificial lake in San Diego surrounded by the Otay County Open Space Preserve and the city of Chula Vista. It was originally built in 1897 after construction of the Lower Otay Dam. The dam was 125 ft rock wall. In 1916 the dam gave away due to heavy rains and a wall of water ranging from 20 to 100 ft came crashing down killing 14 people. The reservoir was rebuilt by impounding the waters of the Otay river behind the Salvage Dam. It was completed in 1918 and is the terminus for the Second San Diego Aqueduct. The Reservoir is 11,000 acres. Upper Otay Lake is 20 acres and was built in 1959. Both lakes serve as hatchery and breeding areas for several species of fish and both lakes are catch and release lakes. If you are fishing the lake your fish story could be quite good since you have to let your catch go. Tim and I visited Upper Otay Lake 28 years ago when we were stationed in this area. Both lakes are beautiful. Look for more pictures to come!
This week Tim and I will become tourists in San Diego. Today we are going to go visit where we use to live, when we were stationed here 28 years ago, Imperial Beach, CA. We will also be visiting Chula Vista and Cornado Island. NAS North Island, where Tim was stationed, is on Cornago so we will stop by the base to check it out. This will be a fun day checking out our old stomping grounds!