"Where in North America is this?" Section X

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog/...y-mark-135.jpg
(Photo by Michael H. Dickman)

1) Where is this view taken from?
2) What is the city in this view?
3) What is the nickname for this valley view?

This region was supposed to be the location for the next big boom town in California and it's bright shining future looked the brightest in 1996....

mark

Looks vaguely like somewhere around the edge of the Delta...

I say the semi-desert Inland Empire, and for a complete lack of other information, I'll say San Bernardino.

The water is a reservoir/artificial lake with the dam visible to the right. The horizon is desert-like. The visible architecture is tile-roofed w/adobe or fake adobe walls.

And, of course, there's also the soil color............

Foy

Let's see, it's not near the San Francisco Delta

It's not San Bernardino, but you are in the right region of the state. And it's not the "Inland Empire"

Clue #2
That lake is part of the California Aqueduct system, and you can see an edge of the main aqueduct in the middle left part of the photo....

Don't forget about Clue #1 -- this area was a super-duper hot real estate boom area.... and then.... it wasn't!

Mark

.........and I was really just messin' with you, having gotten extraordinarily lucky with a Williamsburg, VA picture some months ago......

I don't know enough about CA to guess further, and am too lazy to research it.

It's got to be some place where the CA Aqueduct passes high along the flank of a valley, however, seeing how it appears that there's several 10s of feet of elevation between the aqueduct and the dammed waterway below.

Foy

That looks like Lake Palmdale. The city would be Palmdale. I don't have Google Earth on my netbook, so I can't come up with any more info.

Yep, the body of water is Lake Palmdale, and Palmdale is visible in the background, but why is this marker here? What's the name of the valley and why is that significant?

Mark

Well, it's in the small Anaverde Vallley, which appears to be part of or near the larger Antelope Valley. I also see that a developer that was going to build 5000 homes there has gone bankrupt after building only 1100. There also appears to be an earthquake detection station there. Not a clue about the marker.

Think about airplanes and airports....

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog/...rk-135-yes.jpg
(Photo by Michael Dickman)

I didn't know this either!

Mark