First of all, I wish to apologize for no October post since I was unable to photograph events that month.  I was in Salton city over the long Thanksgiving weekend from November 27th to December 1st.  The weather was perfect, mild sunny days with cool nights.  What many consider off road weather.  Salton City's population probably doubles and may even triple over this weekend with all of the RV's and off roaders.  The photo below shows from a distance many of the RV's in the off road park area.

The sounds of powerful engines and the people operating those vehicles were full of excitement.  I love it when an off road vehicle passes by on the state owned property behind my home. I know they are having fun and hope they spread the word around that coming to the Salton sea can be fun.  Earlier in the morning I was at the AM PM gas station when I took one picture of the sunrise:

 

and a second picture of gasoline prices over the Thanksgiving weekend:

 

 

I decided to go from here to take pictures of the local medical clinic and the senior citizen center which were nearby.



 

 

 

 

The above medical clinic provides general practice medicine and currently is open only two days a week.  The senior citizen center is a membership club for local seniors and as you can see by the sign in front, bingo is a popular happening.  I've considered joining this organization but most of their activities occur during the week when I'm not usually there.

 

Well, we spent Thanks giving dinner at a neighbors house and it was quite different and fun.  To close this blog I'm putting a picture of truck traffic heading south on the highway behind my home.  I'm shooting for my next blog to occur around New Years holiday.

 



On the weekend of September 21 and 22 I was in Salton city again and found out through neighbors and the internet that the subject house in the last blog has been sold.  It has a "sale pending" notification on it.  It took less then a month.  This weekend we discovered more children of the same age as my son are living in the vicinity and all were willing to accept my sons friendship.

The selling price of the home is currently unknown as well as who are the purchasers.  I'll report on this subject as soon as the information is known.  Until then, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

This weekend I decided to visit and check out the Salton sea on its declining level.  What I saw didn't surprise me but the current level definitely is dropping at an alarming rate.  However, Its beauty is still incredibly fascinating as you will see in the following photos.  The bird life at the sea is busy in the morning with both their movements as well as their sounds.

 

 

The above is the earliest image showing the Salton sea at sunrise around 6:15 am  The sun was still well below the chocolate mountains in the background.

 

A little later image of sunrise at the Salton sea with the sun's glow right below the horizon ready to shine on the next beautiful day in the desert.

 

 

The final two shots and the those  I enjoy the most shows the sun over the chocolate mountains. The lower photo shows bird activity in the morning.  In the foreground that water you see has dropped at least three feet.  The old water line can be seen about a third of the way up on the jetty.

Off roading season starts around the first of October, but my son and his friends were able to enjoy it earlier due to the cooling weather.  This weekend the temperature never exceeded 90 degrees.

  

The above shows my son and a friend enjoying the desert through off roading.

Another view of my son and friends driving down the street getting ready for more off roading.

Later posts will give you an idea of how popular off roading has become in the Salton city area.  There are many open public lands with all types of terrain for those who love the sport to enjoy.  Well, I'll keep writing if you will continue reading, and if you so desire feel free to post a comment.  I would like to know how I'm doing, have a good day and my next post will be in mid-October.







Labor day weekend in Salton city went too fast.  It was a fun filled weekend, especially for the kids.  My 11 year old son met a new friend who recently moved here from Arizona.  He's a nice kid with good morals.  Saturday night we had a lightning show to the south of us.  A house three away from mine is now for sale for $76,000 and has three bedrooms two baths and a two car garage and was built in 2007.

 

The above is a picture of the house.  It has around 1450 square feet and has block wall fencing.  It also has granite kitchen countertops and plantation shutters.  Once this home sells it would make all the homes in my immediate vicinity occupied. It'll be interesting to see who moves in.  If they're like the rest who filled the homes around me, we will have one incredible and safe neighborhood.

 

The weather out here in Salton city during the summer can change quickly.  For example, I woke up Sunday morning and the sky was completely blue, not a cloud in sight as pictured below:

 

 

 

The above photo was taken from my patio and shows a clear sky and now you can compare it to the next photo shot about an hour later and see the difference in cloud cover.

 

 

 

They formed quickly. and a picture on my patio wall shows the temperature at roughly the time of the above photo.

 

 

 

As you can see, the needle is right on the hundred mark.  Salton city reaches those temperatures from roughly late June to about the end of September.  The rest of the year is mild, ranging anywhere from 50 degrees to the 80's.  One thing for sure though was that I set up a waterslide  for the kids to enjoy and it brought the neighborhood kids together for some refreshing fun in the sun.

 

 

I know it's an unusual post, but I find myself enjoying more of the desert and less of the city.  I am however, having difficulty finding status on what is going on with the salton sea in detail.  The last thing I read was a short subject in the Desert Sun about California needing to rewrite water bonds to include funding to fix the salton sea.





I was again in Salton city the last weekend of July and was checking out the incomplete housing development known as the Salton Sea Estates.  It's on the northwestern section of Salton City and backs right up to the Anza Borrego desert state park.  I can see why people would want to live here with easy access to open off road trails.  There are many beautiful homes in this development, but like I said it was not finished.

 

The above photo shows a drive down the main drag known as North Marina drive west of  Highway

86.  As you can see, there are plenty of residential lots undeveloped.  It appears an attempt was made to have some sort of master planning by centralizing postal service for homes as seen in the next photo.

Many of the homes here were built with block wall fencing (as seen behind the mail boxes) and other nice luxuries such as fireplaces and dual air conditioning units.  As with the rest of Salton City this area suffered with foreclosures during the housing crash.  Neighbors tell me when interest in this area stalled, homebuilders took shortcuts and many of these homes are poorly constructed.  Based on my limited observations, I find that hard to believe.

 

If any of you readers have an interest in the area, plenty of buildable lots are available for purchase if you choose to build your own home.  This is an advertisement I chanced upon while driving to the Salton sea estates:

 

 

There is plenty of room for growth here and I would like to see that happen by the time I retire there sometime around 2021.  If you desire a safe low cost place to live or to start a business, this is an excellent place!

 

 

One of the homes for sale in the development consists of three bedrooms three baths enclosed in about 1700 square feet

 

The price was not noted, however as of the Summer of 2013 similar style homes are advertised from about $75000 to about $100,000 depending mainly on condition in Salton city.  Back in 2009 when I bought my place they could be had for around $50,000.  The Original prices as advertised by the builders was around $265,000.  This one appears to have nice landscaping and is perched on a small hill and probably has good views.

 

Well, That will be it for this blog and my next visit to the area will be over the Labor day weekend at the beginning of September.

 




As mentioned in the previous blog, I was going to mention and show that Salton city has an abundance of commercial properties for sale.  I have photographed some of the properties to show you,  Some of the signs appeared worn and old while others appeared to be recently placed.  To sell and develop these properties seems to be universally agreed upon by my neighbors.

 This property is located on a street called Service road which runs parallel to and is visible from Highway 86

 This is another piece along service road and is somewhat faded

This is a piece of commercial land at the intersection of service road and north marina drive.  It is located across from the housing development formally known as "the Salton sea estates".

 

Today, the Salton sea estates can be considered incomplete.  I wouldn't consider it a failed development.  On one of my future visits I will photograph some of the beautiful homes and open space of that development.  This is one development that will probably be finished with the renewed political interest in fixing the ailing Salton sea.  To see the current progress on the political interest in the sea which occurred in April 2013, go to youtube and search "Salton sea stakeholders forum" and view the 2hr 47min video.

Salton city on the long fourth of July weekend was surprisingly uneventful.  Usually a fireworks show is put on and this is the first time since buying my home in 2009 that no show was put on.  So, on the fourth we took a trip to Brawley, which is about 30 miles south on highway 86.  We went to the Walmart supercenter there where we bought some items for home we needed.  On the way home from there, we had to drive through a checkpoint at the intersection of Highway 86 and highway 78.  It is operated by the US Border patrol.

Since we did not know where there were any public fireworks shows in either Imperial county or the Coachella valley we bought fireworks from a fireworks stand and set off our own that evening.  Friday we had plans to visit the Knott's soak city in the Palm Springs area and that took the majority of the day.  That pretty much left me for Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th to take a few pictures of the area.

First of all I went to the Casino and took some outside pictures since many people tend to frown when their pictures are taken and especially published on the net.  The Casino here is not really in Salton city but is about seven miles north and close to the town of Salton sea beach.  Well anyway, here is what the Casino from the outside looks like starting with the sign.  It is called the Red Earth Casino:

 

 

In the lower photo, The Casino is to the left which is the building with the red lower section.  It is a somewhat small casino in comparison to those you may know in Las Vegas.  I have visited it a couple of times but for one reason or another gambling doesn't seem to interest me much.

 

Another location I visited was the Vista del Mar clubhouse.  It is also known as the Dome.  It consists of a circular looking building which houses the Clubhouse.  There is also a solar heated pool in the back.  However when I visited the place in the morning it appeared closed and I was unable to get in and photograph the pool.  I would like to become a member of the organization but every time I go there, no one is around to give information.

 



It does appear to be well maintained and it's also possible that staff is not there on weekends or Holidays.  I may never know.

Another place I visited that morning was the local golf course.  I'm told that it was built by volunteers who put in everything from the irrigation system to the signs at each hole which state number and distance in yards.  It uses the honor system to pay green fees.  It's a nine hole course.  There is a clubhouse and the volunteers there were nice enough to give me a golf cart tour of the place.  Here are the photos:

 This is the sign that tells you the approach to the Golf course.

 This is the clubhouse

 one of the signs put up by volunteers

 As you can see, the greens are green and the fairways are desert or earth

A close up of one of the greens with the hole

 

Sometime later this week I will post photos of Commercial land available in the Salton city area so those business organizations wishing to expand may consider this area.  



Now some sights in the downtown area of South Marina Drive near the intersection of highway 86.  First is that Salton City does have a chamber of commerce and I hear they have regular monthly meetings except in the summer months (June, July and August).

Their job is to provide a business friendly city and promote the area also known as the west shores to potential business.  I think if more people, especially industry find the low taxes, electricity water and it's relative close proximity to transportation, coastal shipping and willing and skilled labor, there should be no problem.

Salton city has vast tracts of vacant land for housing and as mentioned before, plenty of industry sized commercial land available.

Next, Salton city has a charter school, called Juan Bautista de Anza Charter school and is located in the downtown district.  Here's the picture:

 

Sorry for the poor quality picture, it was taken from inside my vehicle.  It is located next to the Imperial county sheriff's station (not pictured).  Almost directly across the street from the school is the West Shores market which also houses a branch of the US post office.

 

 

 

This store has a small meat and produce which the Family dollar does not contain.

 

A street sign I added to a local utility pole says "I love Salton City CA" shows how much I love the area.  My neighbors have pretty much the same opinion so they didn't mind me adding it. 

 

My next trip to Salton city will be over the long fourth of July weekend.  Then, I will photograph the local casino and other areas not previously photographed.  Also I will discuss any local happenings, if anything such as fireworks shows.

 



I was again visiting my home in Salton City for the weekend of June 14 to 16th.  It was hot averaging about 104 degrees at the high.  The sky was clear but I saw on the TV a news program that states the 15th of June starts the official Monsoon season of 2013.  I have experienced Thunderstorms here before and they can be incredible.  I hope this year could provide great lightning.

I see that in April a stakeholders symposium on potential fixes for the Salton sea was held..  In fact you can see the meeting itself on you tube.  It is however almost three hours in length.  There appears to be a growing political interest in doing something positive with the Salton sea.  I think it would be worth it to fix it up.  Salton city would benefit.  I don't mind seeing Salton city grow and it will certainly grow if the sea is cleaned up.  I just hope it doesn't turn into an Orange county or any other large coastal California city.

Me and many of my neighbors enjoy the place how it currently is, but we would like to see more shopping and dining choices.  It definitely needs more close by medical facilities.  The closest one is about a 45 minute drive to JFK hospital.

There is an abundance of low cost commercial properties available here and I would like to see industry eventually move in.  In fact, this subject was specifically mentioned at the symposium.  It appears they would be willing to give industry moving in some type of deal though specifics were not made clear.

Well anyway, I have some new sights to show you I took this last weekend while visiting my little paradise.  The first is an area known as the Riviera Keys.  A housing development practically on the sea itself.  Channels dug out to provide homes put up there their own docks.  It seems that at one time, aspirations for elegance were conceived.

 

 

This is one of the signs indicating entrance to the keys.  Each side of the entering street has this.  And now some views of the channels and homes that were built there:

 

As you can see in the last photo the water level has dropped at least ten feet leaving the boat dock of a Riviera key home high and dry.  The Salton sea clearly is drying up and if permitted to do so would destroy the air quality in southern California and most of Arizona.  I heard reports that the odor from the sea reaches the Phoenix area.  In other words the cost of a dry Salton sea would cost more to deal with then the fixing of the current sea.

 

To be continued soon, hopefully tomorrow. 

The Salton sea, pictured above, forms the eastern boundary of Salton city.  Many bird species have been observed here.  This photo was taken from the parking lot of the old yacht club.  I noticed that if you are along the shoreline with the wind blowing off the sea towards you, you can smell a strong odor similar to a rotten egg smell, but if you are beyond the shoreline such as on a jetty there is no smell which leads me to believe the water itself does not create the odor.  I hope somehow the sea can be restored not because I own a home here but for the serious air quality issues we will have if it is allowed to dry up.

 This is another view of the shoreline of the Salton sea taken from the same location looking to the north.  The picture above this one was taken looking to the south.

This photo, looking west, shows what remains of the paved parking lot of the former yacht club with the Santa Rosa mountains off in the distance.  I visited this place when the structures were still here back in the 80's.  It consisted of a two story motel, a circular restaurant/yacht club of approximately 14000 square feet, a large swimming pool and dock facilities for boats.  There were two back to back century storms which flooded the facility in the 70's and thus led to its demise.  The photo above this one shows the remains of some of those docks.

 

 

Personally, I love the Salton sea and the city very much from the vistas, though maybe hard to imagine, clean air and the weather.  We have some incredible thunderstorms that are fascinating to watch, mainly in the summer when its monsoon season.  I think they are more enjoyable then a fireworks show.  This is why I think the area should be restored and I'm spending the time to write this blog.

 

 





A new family dollar store has opened up in Salton city near what I call the downtown district.  It's not really considered a dollar store in the traditional sense since many items there sell for well over a dollar.  It is however, a store that was desperately needed in the area.  The store is doing very well and I hope that other commercial establishments will follow.  Salton city with a population of about 3800 does seem to have a good consumer base for places like this although I'd like to know how many people from Salton city actually shop there and since the store is visible from Highway 86, how many are transient shoppers.  Salton city has an ARCO Am Pm gas station complete with a truck stop and is reportedly one of the largest such facility of its kind in California.  I consider this another important asset to the community and many times find the gas cheaper there then in National City.

 Salton city has two public schools, Sea view elementary and West Shores high school.  They are administered by the Coachella Valley Unified school district.  Actual academics and test scores are currently unknown.  I will attempt to research this in the future.  I hear from locals that the elementary school is a new construction school completed in 2007.  Here are photos of the schools:

Salton city has a community park with a playground and pool.  It also has a covered picnic area and a basketball court.  Public restrooms are available as well open air picnicking and barbeque facilities.

 The above picture is the entrance to the park from the parking lot towards the restrooms, pool and covered picnic area.

 The covered picnic area which faces the pool.  I've seen a couple of parties thrown here from locals.

                                                This is a view of the swimming pool.

                                                The playground which sits near the pool.

                                      The basketball court as seen from the playground area.
                                     

                           An outdoor picnic area with pool and covered picnic area in the distance