Things to Do in Lake Elsinore

Uncorked Tours Megan Franks does all she can to separate stuffiness from wine connoisseurship. For tours of Temecula's wine country, she dispatches a limo party coach with two flat-screen TVs and a dancer's pole, which she gaily poses next to in a photo on her website's About page. She also launches tipplers into the air during morning hot air balloon rides that begin, like the chauffeured tours, with a complimentary champagne toast. To contribute to the party vibe during each trip, a staff member continuously works a camera's shutter, producing digital photos that are then uploaded to Facebook for sharing and downloads.

Whether soaring in a hot air balloon or freefalling on a skydive, you’re guaranteed picturesque aerial views at Above the Rest Hot Air Ballooning & Skydiving. On 45–60 minute hot-air-balloon rides, an experienced pilot and up to 10 passengers glide above the earth in a wicker basket, propelled by wind and an occasional flock of friendly geese.

A popular training ground for PGA Tour players and a regular tournament host course on The Golden State Tour, The Golf Club at Rancho California's 18-hole course is a worthy challenge for golf's elite talents. Originally designed in 1970 by famed architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr., the course incorporates the rolling hills of Temecula Valley—a feature that golfers encounter throughout the course, especially as they approach the third tee, which is perched 100 feet above the fairway. Water hazards imperil ill-struck golf balls on eight holes, including a treacherous stretch in the middle of the round where golfers encounter water on six of seven consecutive holes. Despite its sterling reputation, the Club continues to make improvements on the course. Management recently lengthened the par 72 to stretch more than 7,200 yards to compensate for the longer drives created by new technology and the diminishing force of gravity associated with Earth's perpetual shrinking.

While the back tees may be enough to give Tour pros a challenge, the course offers five tee options to accommodate players of all abilities. A practice green and driving range let golfers get acquainted with the course's Bermuda grass surface and the earthworms that emerge to compliment a well-struck drive.

REO Rafting has one of the most amazing locations, right on the edge of the jade-green Nahatlatch River. This Class 3-4 river offers 12 km and 37 near-continuous, rapid-fire white water rapids finishing right at our full service resort.

The owners of Corona Pumpkin Farm weren’t setting out to build a business in the fall of 2009. They just wanted to cultivate fresh, healthy produce for their family. So they began sowing seeds in box gardens, nourishing the soil with compost from chickens that also bore fresh eggs, and the occasional golden one. Eventually, the chickens’ bounty outgrew the boxed gardens, and the humble family endeavor flourished into Corona Pumpkin Farm, which sits atop more than an acre of land. Now the farmers nurture more than 50 types of pumpkins for eating and carving, as well as a cornucopia of fruits and veggies that includes three types of corn and pick-your-own boysenberries. Along with the produce, they raise chickens and turkeys for meat, gather eggs from the coop, and sometimes barter with neighbors for beef and pork.

To show their respect for Mother Nature and their own health, they never use hormones, additives, or chemicals on their garden grub. But visitors don’t flock to the farm just for the fresh, healthy fare; they come to pick their own pumpkins, meander through the 10-foot-high stalks that fill a half-acre corn maze, and enjoy other seasonal activities, such as cuddling baby chicks, scouring the fields for scavenger hunt clues, zooming down an inflatable slide, painting pumpkins, and crafting personalized trick-or-treat bag.

Designed by renowned course architect David Rainville—whose resumé includes famed courses such as Indian Wells Country Club—the 18-hole California Oaks course stretches across 5,218 yards of bucolic Southern California topography. Towering trees, intervening ponds, and immense bunkers conspire to kidnap wayward balls throughout the course, and the club's immaculate fairways provide a hospitable landing zone for pinpointed drives and golf-obsessed extraterrestrials. A stream flows alongside every hole, adding a sense of continuity to rounds as golfers contend with each on-course challenge. After 18-hole expeditions, players can replenish at Oaks Bar & Grill, which, like the course itself, affords customers splendid views of the Temecula Valley, the San Jacinto mountain range, and the cloud-like spirits of drowned golf balls trying to contact 9-irons from the beyond.

Course at a Glance:

18-hole, par-70 course (par 68 from the ladies' tees)

Designed by David Rainville

Length of 5,218 yards from the farthest tees

Course rating of 66.1 from the farthest tees

Slope of 122 from the farthest tees

Three tee options