Coachella Valley Dates and the Salton Sea

We drove south the other day to see the second largest lake in the US.  The biggest is the Great Salt Lake in Utah.  The Salton Sea is south of the Palm Springs area in California. The history of the lake is fascinating.  In 1905, when they were building the canal system from the Colorado River watershed to the deserts in Arizona and California, they accidentally breached a barrier (hills) into the 2nd lowest area in California (only a few feet higher than the lowest part of Death Valley).  The water ran into the valley and they weren't able to stop it for weeks.  It created the lake which is now only fed by two small streams and has no outlet.  So, over time the water has become very, very salty.

During the mid-20th century, it became a popular recreational area, but that has declined with the water salinity, algae bloom odor, and occasional mass fish deaths (I don't know the cause of that, but it smells pretty bad).  They are currently in the process of building some boat docks to attract recreational boaters to the area.

It's pretty.

Jill got to enjoy the sandy beach.

Here's our Salton Sea Portrait.

The trip down to the Salton Sea was interesting.  We learned that the Coachella Valley is the date capital of the country - 89% of the dates in America.  We passed thousands of date palms and farms.  UPDATE:  Today, I was told that the valley here, is the only place in the states where date palms are planted (3/29/15).

I've learned that Dates are good for you, but when I see the sugar content, I back away.  As you can see below, the main benefit is the fiber, but we choose to get our fiber with less sugar grams.