Rainbow, Rainbow, CA

Rainbow sits in a small inland valley along Interstate 15 at the top of San Diego County, close enough to the Riverside County line that Temecula is the next stop north. Fallbrook is over the hills to the west. At about a thousand feet up, the valley stays rural, and much of the open ground is given over to growing palm trees. Fifth Street, a short run of road just east of the freeway, holds most of the community's storefronts, a leftover from the years when drivers bound for San Diego still took old Highway 395 through the valley. Homes in Rainbow are spread thin. Most are ranch houses and farm properties on big hillside parcels, mixed in with palm fields and fenced pasture, and many sit at the end of a private drive off a winding road. You will not find a subdivision grid here, and the few houses near Fifth Street read more like a crossroads than a town. Rainbow County Park is the public patch of green, set along Fifth Street. For a harder outing, Monserate Mountain rises just south of the valley, with a steep trail of about a mile and a half that climbs to views over the hills and out to the ocean when the air is clear. Somerville's Country Market, also on Fifth Street, handles the quick grocery stop. Anything bigger means Fallbrook to the west or Temecula's shopping centers to the north, and both trips mean the car. The freeway is the lifeline, and it makes commutes north into Riverside County or south toward Escondido simpler than they look on a map. The local list is short. A market and a small park are about it, so a dinner out or a big shopping trip usually means a drive. Evenings in the valley belong to the palm rows and the hum of the interstate, and not much else.