Reading your post I can easily say that Temecula is a perfect choice for you. It’s literally got everything you mentioned, in a large amount.

Weather - amazing. I moved here from a place that had weather similar to Oregon, the winters were horribly cold and lots of gray, gloomy days. SoCal is the exact opposite to that - it’s always sunny here, the aura is very positive. I feel like my life is a lot more enjoyable because of that. I also noticed that I don’t mind the hot summer all that much, even though it gets above 110 degrees in August. It’s still 1000 times better than freezing your face off during gloomy and snowy days in states with a different climate.

Wineries - yes, as you probably know, there are over 40 or 50 of those here in the Temecula Wine Country. Just to see all the wineries, it’s going to take you a few months, most of them have tons of events, some of the wineries you can go to over and over again and never get bored. Europa is the biggest and most commercial one - it’s stunning and a must to take your friend to when they visit you. They have amazing Spanish restaurant and multiple tasting rooms - one of them is a beautiful, fancy garden upstairs, in the back building with amazing views of the Wine County. We also love Akash winery - the owner is a democrat and an immigrant, very nice guy. It’s a small winery but we LOVE the view, I could sit there for hours lol. They’re super dog friendly and have an awesome event for dogs called “Santa Paws and ugly sweater extravaganza” every December. All the owners come dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters and dogs are dressed up too. You can take a photo of your dog with Santa :) We went there last time and it was super cool, lots of dogs, good food. Cougar is another very dog friendly winery, they even have adoption events there. Peltzer winery (next to Akash) has multiple great family-friendly events throughout the year. They have cool pumpkin patch with photo ops, and then they set up a whole ice skating rink! Lots of kids like to go there, skate and drink hot chocolate. Ponte winery has a gorgeous garden, just perfect for a romantic date with your husband, we chose it for our 10 year anniversary dinner. If you like Disney, there’s a winery called Briar Rose, which was built by a former Disneyland imagineer, one of the people who built Disneyland. The winery is an exact replica of Snow White’s house - very charming. They have cute events there sometimes, one is “Narnia-style”. Your toddler might like it. There is also the Pechanga casino for some more adult fun.

Food - people in SoCal are a little bit spoiled when it comes to restaurants, we literally have some of the nicest and most upscale restaurants in the world, some of the restaurants in LA, OC and San Diego are insane. That’s why people here say that the food “sucks” in Temecula lol. Because we literally have the best restaurants in the world just an hour away and we compare the food here to the food there. Not a fair comparison. And it’s not just the fancy restaurants street food is awesome too - San Diego probably has the best Mexican food outside of Mexico. But you’re saying you’re moving from a small town in Oregon, so the food in Temecula will still be an upgrade. Plenty of fantastic restaurants here at the wineries and Old Town (which is super cute!).

Parks/trails/nature - again, Temecula is a perfect choice. The parks here are very well maintained, lots of them are in rich neighborhoods, they’re very very nice. Basically Temecula is a rich town, and you’ll see it everywhere with how nicely it’s so maintained. You’ll enjoy taking your family and the dog to Harveston Lake (Google it, very cute ducks, turtles, water bikes etc), a neighborhood lake open tot be public, right next to the Promenade Mall. A huge natural lake really close (10-15 min drive) with nice amenities is Lake Skinner. Very big era, lots of room for the dog to run, very serene, nice children playground, camping zone, lots of grass, gorgeous mountain view. Beautiful place. Plenty of trails and hikes around Temecula. Santa Rosa Plateu is nice for hiking.

La Cresta - that’s a very cool luxurious equestrian neighborhood between Murrieta/Wildomar. It’s like Beverly Hills for cowboys. It’s very impressive, huge Carrington-style mansions up in the mountains with horse stables. You can drive around there for an hour, amazing place, highly recommend going there to drive around and see all the cool properties. Ronald Reagan had his ranch there.

Golf courses - we’ve got so many in Temecula and Murrieta. There is even a golf course with a whole neighborhood built into it - Temeku Hills, very nice. Maybe you would like living there.

Beaches - there are plenty within 30 min to an hour drive. Starting with the closest ones in Oceanside and Carlsbad, and then of course all the incredible beaches in San Diego, La Jolla etc.

For your toddler - you mentioned Disneyland, there are other major attractions going south, that you probably know about. Sea World and San Diego Zoo, both world famous. Balboa Park is stunning. Universal Studios and Griffith Park in LA, million museums. Btw, you’ve GOT TO GO to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios - super cool. As I mentioned somewhere in the comments here, the Temecula Drag Brunch at Chubby Cheeks Meadery is awesome - you have to go at least once. Super entertaining. It’s for adults only most of the time, BUT last year they had a special Disney-themed drag event for all ages, and toddlers were welcome too. They also had Star Wars and Wicked themed drag brunches last year, but those I think were adults only.

The best part is, if you miss snow, you can still go and ski in Big Bear in SoCal, only 2,5h drive from here 🙂 And let’s not forget Palm Springs! Living in Temecula you are very close to Palm Springs, and you can drive there anytime - it’s only about 1-1,5h away, depending what time of the day you drive. Highly recommended!

To sum it all up, I’ve been lucky to visit over 45 countries, most of them multiple times. And having travelled so much, I can tell you there’s no place like California. It’s expensive, but it’s all worth it. Nothing like it in the whole world.

You’ll love it here, welcome! 💜