The Deserts
You can spend an entire day or just a few hours driving around the free Mojave National Preserve, taking in natural sights such as giant 'singing' dunes,…
Must-see attractions in The Deserts
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
The Deserts
The largest state park in California, Anza-Borrego comprises a staggering 640,000 acres of land punctuated with hiking trails, canyons, palm groves and…
Death Valley National Park
Emigrant Canyon Rd climbs steeply over Emigrant Pass for the turnoff to Wildrose Canyon Rd and a lineup of 10 large beehive-shaped charcoal kilns made of…
Joshua Tree National Park
Jeff Hafler loves hair and everything to do with it, which is why his Steel Magnolias–type home salon brims with related vintage beauty paraphernalia he's…
The Deserts
This nonprofit outfit in a modernist glass-fronted bungalow in central Borrego Springs presents desert-themed paintings, sculpture and crafts created by…
Western America Railroad Museum
The Deserts
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…
Greater Palm Springs
Adjacent to the airport, this museum has an exceptional collection of WWII aircraft and flight memorabilia, a movie theater and occasional flight…
Greater Palm Springs
Chester ‘Cactus Slim’ Moorten, one of the original Keystone Cops, and his wife Patricia channeled their passion for plants into this compact garden…
Joshua Tree National Park
Rock hounds love the hulking caramel-colored formations in this northern corner of the park, while birders are drawn by feathered friends hiding out among…
Joshua Tree National Park
Cottonwood Spring is an oasis with a natural spring that Cahuilla tribespeople depended on for centuries. Look for morteros – rounded depressions in the…
Greater Palm Springs
Go bananas at this endearing and bizarre collection of over 19,000 banana-related artefacts, from candles to cookie jars, hats to hangers. Dress in a…
The Deserts
East of Borrego Springs, a 4-mile dirt road, sometimes passable without 4WD, diverges south from County Rte S22 out to Fonts Point (1249ft). From up here…
Death Valley National Park
Some 15 miles south of Furnace Creek, salt has piled up into saw-toothed miniature mountains in what was once a major lake that evaporated about 2000…
Death Valley National Park
The house where gold-prospector Walter Scott (aka Scotty) actually lived can only be visited on ranger-led hikes that must be booked in advance via www…
The Deserts
This beloved old-fashioned 1952 diner and truck stop fell victim to wildfire in August 2016.
The Deserts
This port made history in 2003 with the launch of SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded human space flight, thus laying the groundwork for commercial…
Death Valley National Park
On the grounds of the Ranch at Death Valley, this outdoor museum illustrates Death Valley's connection to borax mining, and presents pioneer-era mining…
The Deserts
Inside the old Red Rooster Cafe opposite the railroad tracks, this nostalgic collection features a kitchen sink's worth of yesteryear's treasures,…
The Deserts
Storied Edwards Air Force Base is a flight-test facility for the US Air Force, NASA and civilian aircraft, and a training school for test pilots with the …
The Deserts
This modest, volunteer-run museum recounts milestones in experimental flight testing in the surrounding desert, including the first breaking of the sound…
Greater Palm Springs
Cabot Yerxa, a wealthy East Coaster who traded high society for desert solitude, hand-built this rambling 1913 adobe from reclaimed and found objects,…
The Deserts
Some 4000 years ago, the Antelope Valley was an important trade route linking American Indian cultures throughout the Great Basin, California and the…
The Deserts
The shade of cottonwood trees makes the 1914 Spanish Mission–style Goffs Schoolhouse a soothing stop along this sun-drenched stretch of highway. It stands…
Death Valley National Park
Some 6 miles southwest of Stovepipe Wells, Emigrant Canyon Rd veers off Hwy 190 and travels south to the park's higher elevations. En route you'll pass…
The Deserts
Visible to the south from I-15, Cima Dome is a 1500ft hunk of granite spiked with volcanic cinder cones and crusty outcrops of basalt left by lava. Its…
Los Angeles to Barstow
Half of the unofficial First McDonald's Museum has exhibits devoted to Route 66, with particularly interesting photographs and maps. It was first opened…
Salton Sea State Recreation Area
Greater Palm Springs
This area covers 14 miles of the northeastern shore of the Salton Sea and is popular with boaters and anglers, although the fish population has been…
Palm Springs Art Museum, Architecture & Design Center
Greater Palm Springs
Showcasing changing exhibits drawn from the Palm Springs Art Museum's architecture and design collection, the center occupies an iconic and spiffily…
Greater Palm Springs
You can only catch a glimpse from the sidewalk of this glass, steel and stone masterpiece built by Richard Neutra but, oh, what a glimpse it is. Despite…
The Deserts
Amboy Crater, off National Trails Hwy, 2 miles west of Amboy, is a 250ft-high, almost perfectly symmetrical volcanic cinder cone. You can hike to the top…
Ruddy’s 1930s General Store Museum
Greater Palm Springs
This original 1930s general store shows amazingly preserved original products from groceries to medicines, beauty aids to clothing and hardware, with…
The Deserts
East of the California–Arizona state line, south of I-40, the arched Old Trails Bridge welcomes the Mother Road to California under endless blue skies…
The Deserts
This pretty little park in a refreshing valley on the southern edge of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park centers on a replica of a historic Butterfield Stage…
Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge
Greater Palm Springs
This refuge is a major migratory stopover along the Pacific Flyway and has a visitor center with a short self-guided trail, an observation tower and a…
The Deserts
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…
The Deserts
This kid-oriented, educational center in an adobe building seeks to unravel the natural, cultural and historic mysteries of the Mojave desert through…
Death Valley National Park
In the Panamint Mountains, this gold mine was discovered by French immigrant Pete Aguereberry in 1905 and worked by him until the early 1930s. The mine…
The Deserts
About 20 miles south of Ridgecrest, off US Hwy 395, Randsburg is a 'living ghost town,' an abandoned and now (somewhat) reinhabited gold-mining town circa…
Greater Palm Springs
In business since 1924, this kooky roadside attraction is where you can watch the 15-minute documentary, Romance and Sex Life of the Date, try a date…
Greater Palm Springs
The town's oldest building, the 1884 McCallum Adobe, was built for John McCallum, the first permanent white settler. Today, the Palm Springs Historical…
