Harveston Lake {Temecula}

One thing I miss about living on Camp Pendleton is being so close to nature. Having spent 12 years on Camp Pendleton we lived in nearly every housing area on the south and main side of base. When we lived on the south side, we had the ocean just a mile down the road. There is no negative to having the ocean at your finger tips. When we lived on main side, we had Lake O'Neill in our backyard. We had the best view from our patio. Most weekends started with a hike or bike ride around the trails. I miss that. We most definitely don't have nature in our neighborhood now. We have sidewalks and houses. Not my favorite thing to look at when I'm out walking. Sure we have trails within driving distance but sometimes it's nice to have something nearby and not have to pay for parking.

My husband starts to feel the same way. He starts getting restless for some type of nature. He found this nearby "lake" in the middle of a neighborhood. When I say lake, I mean pond, but Californians are going to call it a lake. What can you do? It's man-made and surrounded by houses. The California way... plow over nature, build houses, make new "nature".  Beggars can't be choosers. It's as close to nature as we are going to get this side of the interstate without paying for it.

We visited Lake Harveston last summer when we took the kids fishing. Would you expect the lake to be stocked with fish? Blue gill, I think. Catch and release. The kids loved it. However, this time we went to walk. Scooters for the boys. We took one lap around the lake and managed to (sorta) crash a wedding. Chase some birds. Tumble off the scooters. We voted against a second lap, for the bride and groom's sake. I can imagine that wedding video with my two hooligans blazing around on their scooters in the background. Classy.

We left instead. But now we have a nearby "nature" walk when we feel like getting out and about.