Murrieta

I lived in murrieta for 13 years before I moved to another southern city in ca.

this place sucks. theres no reason to move here unless you plan on spending a glory full evening golfing in dry sana anna winds or getting faded at the winery. its a nice place for grandmpa to take the kids but id rather be home sucking balls on the sofa

I went on a Women’s weekend Retreat here. It was absolutly beautiful and refreshing. I would like to go again. I am sure I will some day. In the meantime I took many pictures to help me remember the experience.

This picture was taken 1st thing in the morning. It was so peaceful there.

I live in Murrieta, California; a growing suburb about an hour from Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County (The OC). It’s not well known, even here in southern California. In fact, when I tell my co-workers in Orange County that I live in Murrieta, the next question they ask is “where is Murrieta?”

I moved here from Orange County back in 1989. Back then, the population was about 16,000. There wasn’t a single traffic light. A visit to the nearest grocery store involved a trip five miles down the freeway. It was an old, mostly rural community of horse ranches dotted with signs of change—sparkling new tracts of homes built to attract families from San Diego and Orange County.

My kids were young. My oldest began kindergarten here in Murrieta, and now she’s 22 and studying at UC Santa Barbara. Needless to say, my family has changed a lot in the past 16 years, and Murrieta has changed with it.

These days, the population has mushroomed to nearly 80,000. There is still new construction everywhere you turn. It seems like every available lot is being developed. There are still some rural areas, but they are quickly being surrounded by new homes and stores. And we finally have excellent broadband access - fiber optic from Verizon FIOS - with 15 Mbps downstream speed.

On the downside, the increase in population has clogged the streets. I trip across town that used to take 10 minutes, now can take 30 minutes or more.

A large percentage of the people who live here commute to work in LA, San Diego or O.C. (as do I). The long commute means that I don’t see my neighbors much during the week. That’s one of the reasons the city lobbied Verizon to bring fiber optic here for testing (we were one of the early cities to implement it). City officials hope that the fast broadband will attract businesses and people who can telecommute (as I do, a couple days each week).

Murrieta is on the edge of southern California’s wine country . It’s fun to go wine tasting, or to the annual Temecula Valley Wine and Balloon Festival . Most mornings you can look toward the south and count a number of hot-air balloons floating in the skies.

The climate here is pretty hard to beat—a very mild climate. It gets a little hot in the summer, but most of the year it’s very comfortable. Even in the middle of winter, you won’t need a jacket during mid-day (but maybe in the early morning and after the sun goes down). Once every ten years we get a light dusting of snow and it makes the front page news.

More about Murrieta:

• Murrieta via satellite
• City of Murrieta official website
• Murrieta weather
• My Home and my 3-Mile Running Loop
• GoMurrieta.com – a slow-moving personal project of mine, about Murrieta