Staycation: Borrego Springs' Sky Art

Smilodon attacks Equus

On the way to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor's Center, we happened upon a series of captivating metal sculptures bordering the Borrego Springs Road.  When we arrived at the Visitor's Center we discovered there is whole series of these whimsical sculptures designed by Mexican artist Ricardo Breceda.

It all began when local Borrego Springs resident Dennis Avery, heir to the Avery Dennison label company, came across Breceda's roadside metal scultpures along the freeway.  He commissioned Breceda to create a metal sculpture of the gomphothere, an extinct elephant-like creature that used to roam the area. Avery liked what he saw, and put the gomphoteres on his Galleta Meadows property. That was in 2008, and between 2008 and 2010, Breceda created 131 sculptures that now dot Galleta Meadows.  The property is private and undeveloped, but open to anyone that wants to view the sculptures.

Extinct horse that roamed Borrego Springs before it became a desert.

Avery was an enthusiastic historian of the Plio-Pleistocene age of Borrego Springs, and so he initially asked Breceda to recreate sculptures of extinct animals that once roamed the Anza-Borrego Desert. But soon Breceda branched out to dinosaurs which never roamed the area,  and miners and Indians , a Spanish Padre, farmworkers, insects, a Saguaro cactus, and Captain Juan Bautista de Anza himself. Perhaps his most well known sculpture is a 350 foot Chinese sea serpent with a rattlesnake tail that "dives" under the road.   His last sculpture for the collection was a 1946 Jeep.

Samuel inspects Equus up close. 

Staycation: Borrego Springs' La Casa Del Zorro

Our bartender shows off an original painting from the 1930s.  Yes, foxes are making their own wine.

There are a couple great places to stay at Borrego Springs.  I would like to argue we stayed at the coolest one.  At least the one with the coolest name, La Casa Del Zorro (house of the fox).  This resort opened as two rooms in an adobe ranch house in 1937 and was simply called Desert Lodge back then. The adobe wall is still visible in today's lobby.  Over the years, the lodge was expanded to handle 18 guests (though up to 40 guests were housed there during WWII when Borrego Springs became a training outpost for the Army and Marines).

Lobby of La Casa Del Zorro

Then in 1960, James Copley, the publishing magnate, purchased the property and renamed it La Casa del Zorro and began to expand it.  The property now has multiple buildings with garden rooms, and separate casitas, all surrounded by koi ponds, fountains, and plenty of cacti.   The Copleys ran the hotel for over four decades before it was sold to a real estate speculator that had visions of turning the hotel into an exclusive adults-only hideaway.  That didn't pan out, and the hotel was shuttered for three years.

Steven walks past feathery Palo Verde ("green stick") tree on the grounds of La Casa Del Zorro 

Lucky for us, local developers bought the property in 2013, bringing the old name back and the original spirit as well.

Staycation: Borrego Springs and beating the heat

Important information from the Anza-Borrego Desert Park Visitor's Center

If you're going to go to Borrego Springs in August, you are going to have find a way to stay cool. Unlike the vulture, which urinates on its legs to cool off, we opted for shade and that modern miracle, air conditioning.

Teddy Bear Cholla in Anza-Borrega Desert State Park.
(Warning: do NOT cuddle.)

Borrego Springs is a tiny town in the middle of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We arrived after the sun set, so temperatures had dipped to the high 90s.  The full moon helped as we navigated to our hotel, La Casa Del Zorro (House of the Fox).  We had the pleasure of staying in own casita at the edge of the property, surrounded by ocotillo and agave and other desert plants, with a bat or two flitting about.  We took a walk along the jogging trail and to our delight, witnessed a large meteor streak across the sky.  This was part of the Perseid shower that is expected to peak on August 12, 2017.  We just got an early taste.  Hoping for more celestial delights, Samuel set up not one, but two telescopes.  Borrego Springs is well known for its dark sky but the full moon thwarted Samuel's best attempts.  So we went for a swim in the pool and enjoyed the stars a different way.

Our casita, Desert Willow, in daylight

   

Staycation: Ramona, CA

The Chesslers stop for a bite on the way to Borrego Springs.
Note our dog Scout under the table. 

Because San Diego County is over 4,000 square miles, it is possible to get in your car and drive two hours and still never leave the county.  For our staycation this August, we had the crazy idea to head northeast to Borrego Springs and the Anza Borrego State Park.  I say crazy because this part of the county gets hot, think triple digits hot.  But more on that later.  On the way to Borrego, we stopped in Ramona, a town of about 20,000 with a touch of quirkiness.  We stopped for dinner at Ramona Cafe and discovered to our delight it was right next door to the London Bakery.  The London Bakery has a coat-of-arms outside, and the British royal family inside.  Okay, so the Queen of England is a cutout, but the scones and pastries are very British and very good.

Her Majesty at the London Bakery in Ramona, California

In addition to a lot citrus fields and vineyards, Ramona also boasts a camel dairy and a drive-through egg store.  Yes, a drive through egg store.  These eggs come straight from the chicken, as the egg store is right next to the huge Demler Brothers egg farm.

The only drive through egg stand in California?  The world? 

 

Pete Lake, WA

Every summer for more years than seems possible, friends of mine from high school have gathered together for a weekend camp out.  In our teens, we did really camp. But we've left tents behind and now glamp at resorts with spas and golf courses.  We like to throw in some hiking now, not so much to remind of us the old days, as to work up an appetite for our annual steak and champagne dinner.

A marsh on the way to Pete Lake

This year a few of us tried an easy hike to Pete Lake, near Roslyn, Washington.  There's little elevation gain and after just four miles you are rewarded with beautiful views of a mountain lake and snow capped mountains, even in July.  However, to enjoy this trail, you need to surround yourself in a cloud of bug spray, as the mosquitoes are out in force in July, and as my friend Greg and I discovered, they are especially fond of those with Type O blood.

My friends Marc and Sharon two miles into the trail.

Sharon suggested I run to shake off the mosquitoes, so I did.  Here I am at the end of the trail, where lake breezes have chased off the bugs.

Your reward after four miles and a bjillion mosquitoes.

I'm afraid Greg got the worst of the bites, as he and Marc had a slower pace. 

Greg post hike.  Hikers, bug spray is as important as sunblock!