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Friday, April 8, 2016

Borrego Springs is kind of an odd place

Odd, but worth a visit. Apparently they say that Borrego Springs was slotted in to become the next Palm Springs, but it's never realy taken off the same way.

We had decided to stay at Peg Leg Smith Monument another night just so that we could explore the town and area.

The town itself is surrounded by Anza-Borrego State Park, but there's still a lot of vacant private desert land as well...with a lot of it for sale.

The main drag in Borrego Springs.

We stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center and got some info about the area. We also got some free grapefruits! I saw them sitting on the table in there, and the lady said that someone dropped them off because they had too many and they were free. She got us a bag and put in five nice big "organic" Ruby Red grapefruit. Nice!

There are a lot of fruit farms here. And several self serve stands to buy fruit.

Tony, at the self serve fruit stand. A bag of grapefruit was $5.00 with half of that going to some children's charity.

We wandered up and down the main drag for an hour and stopped into the supermarket. There are no "big box" stores here, and the prices reflect the lack of competition. The grocery store wanted $1.59 a pound for grapefruit!

This landscape firm had some neat ornaments.

We stopped at a Thrift shop where Ruth lucked upon a pair of Crocs sandals and a pair of hardly used Merrell hiking shoes. She bought both pairs for $20 USD ($26 CAD). New, the Merrell shoes are $100...an excellent deal!

We saw a nice little Mexican food restaurant. Ruth and I each had a huge plate of enchiladas, while Helen and Tony each had a huge burrito. Almost as good as in Mexico! But not quite as inexpensive. Still, at under $9 USD per plate it was not bad.

Enchiladas for lunch!

Then we went for a drive to the state park visitors center. Spent an hour or so there, and watched a 15 minute movie. Checked out the campground which is quite nice but a little pricey at $25 USD ($32.50 CAD) for dry camping. $35 USD ($45.50 CAD) for full hookups.

Then, we went to see the metal statues at Galleta Meadows. A private landowner sposnsored the project and hired an artist to create a bunch of metal statues. You can even boondock beside the statues, if you don't mind a steady stream of tourists driving by and taking photos!

A scorpion, a grasshopper...and a Beetle!

Farm worker statues.

A giant serpent making it's way through the desert.

Willy's Jeep statue.

On the way back to our campsite we saw a sign for another fruit stand and so we stopped in. This was another self serve stand, and here they were selling an eight pound bag of "organic" Ruby Red grapefruit for $3.50 USD ($4.50 CAD). There were ten nice sized grapefruits in the bag...great deal!

So now, we're having grapefruit for breakfast for the next few days!

We're moving on today to Lakeside (near San Diego) and looking forward to seeing two of the couples from our Mexico RV caravan group!

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16 comments:

  1. Love Borrego Springs, the hike up the hill behind Peg leg would have taken you to the huge stone snake and a few other things there too.
    We located almost 100 of the Galleto Meadow sculptures there a few years ago.
    Enjoy the San Diego area.

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    1. Never ended up finding time to hike up the hill behind us, Tony did but I guess he never noticed it. Oh well maybe next time we are in the area.

      We didn't make a point of going to see all of the statues, apparently there are about 130 or so, you did very well to see 100 of them. They are definitely very well done and we fun to look at.

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  2. Wow! What a fun post this is. That's one of the things we admire about travelling through the USA - individuals take it upon themselves to create wondrous things and everyone benefits. Thanks for sharing. Love that landscaper's sculptures!

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    1. We find that it isn't just in the USA that people take it upon themselves to create amazing things, we have definitely seen this in many parts of the world and think that it is great, a win for everyone! :-)

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  3. This is a little off track but a comment that you made A week or so ago
    I thought it was funny that you hit Palm Springs just at the right time

    Every year at the end of March, 20,000 lesbians from around the world fly into the Californian desert for the largest girl festival in the world. Hilton in Palm Springs, which is hosting the famous Dinah pool parties, and the hotel feels like a homosexual harem.

    It’s a surreal experience: for a few days the world is turned upside down, the minority is suddenly the majority. Everywhere you look, lesbians are smiling, drinking, dancing, kissing. There are a few men around – staff working the event and guys who have been dragged along by lesbian friends – but they are hard to spot. It’s basically entirely gay women in attendance.

    The party is named after the Dinah Shore golf tournament, started in 1972 by the eponymous entertainer. Dinah Shore wasn’t a lesbian (she’d be doing somersaults in her grave if she knew what her moniker was attached to now), but golf seems to attract a lot of lesbians. A sapphic scene sprouted up around the golf tournament, It’s now in its 26th year.


    ReplyDelete
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    1. Sounds like they have found a great place where they can go out and celebrate and have a good time. :-)

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  4. Replies
    1. It is a fun little place for a couple of days and there is also some great hiking in the area.

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  5. We know you are off to the San Diego area but look into the history of the Salton sea and how it was made and it's history. Largest lake in California and was once the hot spot for the rich and famous. Now it is a ghost town. Lake is almost dead. Sad story but very interesting if you like history and man's impact on the landscape.

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    1. Actually we had looked up the info on the Salton Sea a couple of days ago and found it to be very interesting. It's a shame that it has now turned into a ghost town and a not so pretty lake where the wildlife doesn't do well.

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  6. It's been years since I've been to O'Neill Park in Trabuco Canyon ... I'll be interested in seeing your photos and hearing your impression (hope it's nice there). You guys lucked up on some good buys in Borrego Springs!

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    1. We are looking forward to our visit at O'Neill Park, I just wish that we had more time there.

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  7. I don't know your route to Lakeside but if you are going south by the Salton Sea I suggest you take a look at the camping area called " The Slab " it is worth a look. It's been years since I seen the place but I believe you turn east in Brawly.

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    1. We have heard of "The Slabs" and had even though of taking a drive out there in the car one day but felt that it was too far to drive when there were things to see and do in Borrego Springs, so I guess that will have to wait for some other time. Thanks for the suggestion though.

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  8. Love that statues - another reason to return thanks

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    Replies
    1. I thought of you when we saw them because I know you love things like that Glen.

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