Lake Elsinore, Riverside County
Hot mineral springs made Lake Elsinore a resort in the 1880s, and a bathhouse from that era, the Crescent, still stands downtown. Today the draw is outdoor sport: boats and jet skis on the lake, skydivers landing at the airfield on its south shore and motocross riders at a track nearby. In wet years the hills along Interstate 15 turn orange with poppies.