This park is absolutely amazing and very beautiful. It goes on as far as the eye can see, stretching south into Mexico and north of I-8 toward I-10. In the summer, it's way too hot for visitors, but as of October 1st, it's been becoming more and more busy. Visitors bring dirt bikes, dune buggies and the like to ride the dunes. We just brought our minivan to drive through the park and see the sights.
The sand is MUCH cooler than our last visit in August. Then, we couldn't stand on the sand, even in shoes, for fear of burning our feet.
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Moving on toward Palm Springs, we stopped in a TINY town for lunch at a potentially sketchy Mexican restaurant. The drive between Yuma and Palm Springs is desolate, with horrible roads, few towns, and even fewer services (bathrooms, restaurants, gas stations, etc.). We were unsure of our lunch pick, but it turned out to be absolutely delicious local Mexican food. Grandpa, who is learning to like Mexican food, seemed to really enjoy his lunch. The quesidilla Mommy and Daddy got reminded them of their favorite South Florida Mexican place, San Francisco Burrito, located across the street from their house.
After lunch, we drove on toward Palm Springs and came upon the Salton Sea. This place was interesting, but awful. It's like Great Salt Lake, only in that it's a salt sea. Otherwise, it's extremely depressing. A truckload (semi truck size) of salt flows into the Salton Sea everyday, making it more and more salty. The economy around here is none; no houses, business, etc. to help this sea. The sea and its fish are basically dying, and we found examples of the dead fish everywhere. We learned this used to be a great fishing spot, but too much salt and mercury have ended that. Too bad this was such a bust. If someone had the right vision and money, we could only imagine making this place quite the resort.
The Salton Sea...what looks like sand is really salt deposits and dead fish. It wasn't what we expected at all, and we couldn't believe the crazy people who camped here in their RV's. The stench was AWFUL. Here, it looks like Luke is afraid to be put down...we didn't blame him.
Quicky pose...then get us OUT of here!
Pretty view through the haze/smog...if only, this was a usable lake.
Madison really wanted to get into the water, but we told her no. Maybe someday, she'll understand why.
Family pose before leaving
Finally, Palm Springs, California! This we expected to be really ritzy and glamorous, as it was back in the 1950's. Apparently, it hasn't upgraded much from the 1950's. We really had a good time, but it was still very much an older style. Back in the day, it was home to Bob Hope, Pres. Gerald Ford, and Gene Autrey (Grandma and Grandpa had to explain who this was).
Palm Springs is really into wind energy. These windmills were everywhere, and while many find them unsightly, we found them to be very interesting.
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