The Deserts
Colorful as a box of crayons, this roadside folk-art collection is a forest of over 200 ‘bottle trees’ made from recycled soda and beer containers, telephone poles and weathered railroad signs.
Elmer Long, who was a career man at the cement factory you’ll pass just out of town, is the proprietor and cracked artistic genius. If you see someone with a Santa beard and leathery skin, you've found the right man.
23.25 MILES
Inside the beautifully restored Casa del Desierto, a 1911 Harvey House (architecturally significant railway inns named for their originator Fred Harvey),…
29.44 MILES
On a hilltop on the grounds of the Rio Tinto Boron Mine, California's largest open pit mine, this museum reeks 'corporate promo' but actually has some…
Western America Railroad Museum
23.24 MILES
Rail buffs make a beeline to the Casa del Desierto to marvel at a century’s worth of railroad artifacts, including old timetables, uniforms, china and the…
23.42 MILES
This beloved old-fashioned 1952 diner and truck stop fell victim to wildfire in August 2016.
10.82 MILES
Inside the old Red Rooster Cafe opposite the railroad tracks, this nostalgic collection features a kitchen sink's worth of yesteryear's treasures,…
27.69 MILES
This modest, volunteer-run museum recounts milestones in experimental flight testing in the surrounding desert, including the first breaking of the sound…
29.19 MILES
Some 4000 years ago, the Antelope Valley was an important trade route linking American Indian cultures throughout the Great Basin, California and the…
27.6 MILES
This park centers on Saddleback Butte, a 3651ft-high mountain about 15 miles east of Lancaster. It protects native Joshua trees and other desert flora and…
10.82 MILES
Inside the old Red Rooster Cafe opposite the railroad tracks, this nostalgic collection features a kitchen sink's worth of yesteryear's treasures,…
22.72 MILES
This kid-oriented, educational center in an adobe building seeks to unravel the natural, cultural and historic mysteries of the Mojave desert through…
23.02 MILES
Barstow's Main St is well known for its history-themed murals that spruce up often empty and boarded-up buildings. Pick up a map at the Chamber of…
4. Western America Railroad Museum
23.24 MILES
Rail buffs make a beeline to the Casa del Desierto to marvel at a century’s worth of railroad artifacts, including old timetables, uniforms, china and the…
5. Route 66 ‘Mother Road’ Museum
23.25 MILES
Inside the beautifully restored Casa del Desierto, a 1911 Harvey House (architecturally significant railway inns named for their originator Fred Harvey),…
23.42 MILES
This beloved old-fashioned 1952 diner and truck stop fell victim to wildfire in August 2016.
7. Saddleback Butte State Park
27.6 MILES
This park centers on Saddleback Butte, a 3651ft-high mountain about 15 miles east of Lancaster. It protects native Joshua trees and other desert flora and…
27.66 MILES
Despite the name, this low-budget museum is not so much about the famous teams of mules that transported borax from Death Valley to Mojave in the 1880s…