We went on a quest for lakes yesterday and our success rate was 50% with 100% effort. There are two other lakes in the area surrounding Menfiee; Lake Elsinore and Cannon Lake. Both lakes are much different then Diamond Valley Lake and not near as big. Lake Elsinore is the largest natural freshwater lake in southern California. It use to be referred to as Laguna Grande and when it was first discovered in the 17th century is was though to be a swamp due to the level of the water. Through out the next hundreds of years the lake levels have risen and fallen several times going from dried up to its levels currently. In 1884 the California Soutern Railroad built a line from Colton to San Diego and one of its stops was Lake Elsinore. With the train stop brought population to Lake Elsinore. In 1888 it became a city. The city and lake was named after the Danish city in Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Mineral Springs were discovered near by Lake Elsinore in 1886 which help bring tourism to the city and in 1887 the Crescent Bath House was built. The house if a great example of victorian style and its two tone paint color keeps it interesting and is now know as The Chimes. In the 1920's Elsinore became a resort for the rich and the glamorous stars of Hollywood. It also became an Olympic Training area. High speed boat racing competed on the lake during this time too. The lake went dry in 1930 which affected the resort living and stayed dry until 1938 when it got refilled. The lake dried up again the 1950's and once again stayed that way until the early 1960's. With the lake's water level dropping and rising the city became stagnent until 1976 when it became a bedroom community of upper middle class professionals. There was a flood in 1980 that destroyed most of the houses and businesses surrounding the lake. Since that happened the city developed a multi-million dollar project that would make sure the water supply would stay at a consistent level. Lake Elsinore also has a Single A Baseball Team, The Lake Elsinore Storm, which is a farm team for the San Diego Padres. The population of Lake Elsinore is 51,821 with a median income of $56,440 and a median age of 29. Historic Lake Elsinore was re established in 1998 and has lots of antique stores and good restaurants. Lake Elsinore was the success of our journey.
Canyon Lake was our unsuccessful quest. Canyon Lake, CA is a gated city. It is one of five gated cities in California. A gated city is just that - gated. You cannot get into it unless you our sponsored by one of the residents. Canyon Lake began as a master planned community in 1968. In 1990 the City of Canyon Lake was incorporated. It is 4.7 square miles with a lake that is 383 acres and has a 14.9 mile shoreline. The lake was originally build in 1928 when a dam was built for the railroad. You cannot see the community or the lake at all due to the walls that surround the city. There are three entrances into this gated city. We tried to get to higher ground to get a view of the lake but it is impossible. It did become a quest to get a glimpse of this lake and we gave it 100% effort but with 0% success. The population is 10,561 with a median income of $70,100 and a median age of 44.
Today, we are headed to Hollywood. I have always wanted to go and am very excited to see all of the Hollywood sights. I will be taking a ton of pictures so check back tomorrow to see how our journey turned out. If there is no blog posted tomorrow it is because I was discovered...LOL!
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