Flashback: Palm Springs & Beyond
Every once in a while, I'll showcase a worthwhile previous trip or exploration, and then add it to the guide.
This week, in the theme of Palm Springs/Krystal visit weekends, I've chosen to feature this day trip (even shorter than this last weekend!) where we went beyond Palm Springs and ventured to get photos with the Cabazon dinosaurs, Salvation Mountain, found a Banana Museum, and went hiking in the California drought.
Probably one of my favorite roadside attractions. I realize that they're just the world's biggest (non-real) dinosaurs...Hold up – when do you see huge dinosaurs EVER?!
You don't. Unless you have some time machine I don't know about. I have yet to experience these dinosaurs from the inside, but that might be worth checking out on another trip.
Because this was a quick trip, and our destination from the dinosaurs was Salvation Mountain, we didn't take a long time to check out the sea. But you can camp here, and do other fun things. Or you can just take cool pictures. Checked.
Made out of adobe clay and donated paint, this "mountain" sits in the middle of a lot of desert with very little surrounding it anywhere (as you can kind of see from the panorama above). The colors stand out against the neutral dirt backdrops and makes a vibrant statement that "God is love." You follow a sort of "yellow brick road" path to the top of the mountain and can also explore another couple adobe painted structures built on the side of the mountain. It was beautiful in it's own way – completely worth the trip and something I'd go back to see again.
Krystal and I were on our way back to Palm Springs from Salvation Mountain when we passed a little yellow VW bug and a banana in a chair and I thought, this might be something I'll regret if I don't stop now. So I made one of the best choices of the day and made a quick U-turn back to the museum. Admission was buying something from the store next door or one dollar. Either choice was completely worth it {sidenote: I really love random museums, so if you don't like these things, then it's probably not for you}. It was essentially all things banana. There was also a lot of monkey related things. And don't miss out on the banana milkshakes! Krystal and I still reminisce about them.
By the time we got back to the Palm Springs area, it was around 4pm, and we still had one more thing to do: hike Indian Canyon. It was such a hot day, and Krystal thought we could take one of the trails that had water and see a waterfall. Apparently this is a real thing, but because of the drought, there was little water anywhere. But this area is what I'd imagine an "oasis" in a desert is supposed to feel like. Palm Trees and plants, with trickles of water. We chose a trail with a little water and had about 45 minutes to get through it before they closed at 5pm. We were sprinting near the end to make sure we got to the car in time. But it all worked out!
A full day, but a highly recommended route.
If you have any further experiences in this area, feel free to comment below!