Oasis in the Desert

On Sunday we travelled to Borrego Springs located in the Anza –Borrego State Park approximately an hour and a half north east of San Diego.

We are staying at a beautiful RV park with a nine hole golf course.  This area is referred to as California’s secret desert and is like an oasis!! The plan was to stay one night and then continue on the Casa Grande, Arizona; however, decided to stay three nights.  

Orange tree on our spot

Fresh lemons, oranges and grapefruits are 'ripe for the picking' each morning. 

Borrego Springs is a small town of nearly 3,400 residents which decreases significantly during the summer months when temperatures commonly exceed 48 degrees Celsius.  Shopping is limited to one small market, one bank, a few restaurants and a hardware store.  The pace could not be more different from Palm Springs and is incredibly relaxing.  Many in the area describe Borrego Springs as a Palm Springs that existed 50 years ago.

There are no stop lights in Borrego Springs and night time lighting is kept to a minimum to protect the extraordinary magnificence of the starlit sky.  Borrego Springs is situated  fifty five miles from the lights of the west coast.  It is designated as one of only two "International Dark Sky Communities" in the world. Huh......  The starry nights are spectacular!! But it is so dark that Linda was nearly ran over by a cyclist while out for a night time walk; she landed on her back side, but minimal lingering effects. 

We have kept busy with sightseeing, two rounds of golf and hiking.  There are many hiking trails in the area and this morning we trekked through an area called Slot Canyon.  Slot Canyon is a narrow crevice created by rushing water and can be more than a hundred feet deep.  It was a great adventure making our way down the approximate one-half mile trek through the canyon.

On the drive here, we followed the Salton Sea, a shallow, saline, lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault; the lake's surface is 226 feet below sea level and is California’s largest lake. In 1900 water from the Colorado River was diverted in the Salton Sink, a dry lake bed and became a very fertile area allowing farmers to plant crops. In 1905 the Colorado River flooded the area and destroyed the crops.  This flooding occurred every few years and led to the construction of the Hoover Dam north of Las Vegas to control the Colorado River.  The dam which was completed in 1935 put an end to the flooding.

  

We really enjoyed our stay here and will definitely be back  Tomorrow we head to Casa Grande, Arizona to spend a few days at the house before we fly to Florida for our cruise. Linda is hoping to get to the Phoenix Coyote and Oilers hockey game tomorrow night which will mean an early start to the day.  We also want to attend the Waste Management Open Golf Tournament starting on Thursday in Phoenix.  Retirement is a blast!!