Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

On Sunday we decided to head for Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for the day.  After we turned off 86  onto S22, the road turns into a roller coaster.  We were laughing so hard every time we rolled over a dip.  People pay for this stuff at carnivals!  It's like they just slapped down the asphalt wherever.

Then we thought we should warn anyone who got car sick to take care on this stretch of road!

Other than that, what a ride it was.  The terrain changed rapidly as we headed for Borrego Springs.  Just spectacular.

We rounded Christmas Circle (Christmas Circle!  It's like they know me) and continued on to the visitor's center, arriving about 8-8:30.  I pulled out fruit and yogurt and had my breakfast with this view:

Unfortunately Steve's tripod chose that moment to break.  Luckily the park personnel was great and they were able to help him put together a temporary fix (using duct tape of course).

I took the time to explore the gift shop and view a 15 minute video about the park.  I kept thinking I recognized the narrator and finally realized it was Jane Fonda.  The credits rolled, and confirmed that, along with Pat Metheny as the composer, and a famous (but not so famous I can remember his name) director.  

Borrego means big horn sheep, and I loved the door handles to the visitor center:

There were Costa's and Anna's hummingbirds, along with black throated sparrows so Steve shot video while I took walks through the desert.

Just before noon we decided to have our picnic lunch then head out to another part of the park for a hike.

As we headed down Borrego Springs Road a sculpture caught my eye.  They were some of the famed sculptures of Ricardo Breceda.

We decided to continue on, and come back to see more of the sculptures later.

We headed out on California 78 over Yaqui Pass to the Tamarisk Grove Campground.  Driving over the pass brought more incredible views before we descended into the valley.  After parking at the campground ($5) we took the Yaqui Well short 1.5 mile hike.

Parts were rocky, and there were more desert flowers in bloom than I expected to see.  Unfortunately the well was dry :-(

Still, it was beautiful, with a great variety of cactus and shrubs.

We decided to head back into Borrego Springs again, and see more of the Sky Art.  The benefactor is Dennis Avery, and the sculptures are installed on his property.  The Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce Visitors Guide has a free map of scuplture locations.

We only hit a few.

A (locust?) and a scorpion had a standoff.

Although most of the sculptures are animals, or mythical characters, there are some of people, including this one with a section of migrant workers in the vinyards.

I had to take photos of these sloths for a friend.

And the serpent, possibly the most famous and most photographed of the sculptures.  This is just the head, but the body continues for many yards, and ends up with the tail across the road.

After some more walking and birding back around the visitors center, Steve said "How far out of the way would it be to the International Banana Museum?"  and, "I wonder how late they are open?"

And so first I called to see what time they closed, and he said oh, 5-5:30. I looked up the time to get there, and it said 1 hour 5 minutes.

So then we decided to go and I stopped at the side of the road and told him we were coming, don't close! and we would be there in about an hour.

Then I decided to make a "quick" stop at the dollar general at the freeway interchange (I needed a cheap potato masher for the condo in order to make mashed potatoes on Thursday for Thanksgiving). There was one cashier and a massive line. I was committed though, and stuck it out.

So I called him again and told him we were still coming, don't close!

So then I aggressively drove at 5 mph above the speed limit all the way there,almost missed the driveway entrance in the dark and yes, skiddedinto the parking lot.

The Banana Chocolate milkshakes were really good though.